


Changeling Rogue

by Potato_Being



Series: Changeling [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 08:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 29,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9313583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potato_Being/pseuds/Potato_Being





	1. Chapter 1

I slink through the streets, glancing behind me periodically. They’re after me for what I did. I can't let them find me. I break into a run and charge down the streets, pushing people out of my way as I go. I run into the hotel I’m staying in and take the stairs three at a time. I burst into my room and lock the door behind me.  
“Thanks for making evidence that much harder to get to, Admiral.” I turn to Lemon. Kink steps out from the corner and raises his blaster. I hear the others cocking their guns and in a split second each gun fires, hitting me in the chest. I fall to the ground.  
My eyes open. I’m lying on my bed and the sheets are soaked with sweat. I sit up, my hair plastered to my face, crowding my vision. I shove it out of my eyes and look around the darkened room. It’s empty, no one’s been in here but me. I kicked the cleaning service out and so the floor’s picking up dirt and stuff, and the toilet needs a good scrubbing.  
I lie back and listen to the never-ending traffic outside the building.

In the morning I go out and wander through the crowded streets, ignoring the people around me and always on the lookout for stormtroopers. For weeks I’ve wandered around, never talking, never making eye contact. The bartenders in the places I frequent think I’ve escaped from some mental place.   
I slide into alleys and dig around in the trash for stuff. Today I found an old belt and some old ammo cartridges that are still half full.   
I walk into a bar and find a Quarren selling weapons in the back. He’s got a pair of pistols, a rifle, a few vibroblades and a couple grenades.  
“How much for those blasters?” I ask the guy.  
“Twenty credits. Each.” He replies.  
“That’s a lot for two old blasters. I’ll give you five each.” I tell him.  
“Ten.” He argues.  
“Sold.” I hand him the money and I take the blasters and their holsters and tie them to my belt.  
I perch on a building’s ledge above the street. I see couples making out in alleys where they think no one will see them, people begging for money or peddling useless junk only Jawas would buy, and regular people making their way to wherever. Unlike me. Instead of fighting the Empire I’m sitting on a building watching people, wasting my time. I have the weapons needed, and since no one’s my boss, I can do whatever I want. I can lead my own attacks, enact my own killings. I’m on Coruscant, after all. It’s time for me to fight back. Assassination’s probably a good start.  
I steal a datapad and look up different politicians. One’s Herri Nato, a Senator from Vodran. She’s a big supporter of the Empire and is helping fund and promote the anti-alien crap. I think she should be first.


	2. Chapter 2

I stand outside the apartment she lives in as a Zabrak in a cloak. I go inside and am stopped by a guard.

“Who are you and why are you here?” he asks.

“Uh, I’m Jayba Galia, and I’m here to see Senator Nato.” I say, mentally kicking myself for using a Jedi Master’s last name. I hope he ignores it.

“Galia? That’s a lot like the Jedi’s name.” He says. Darn.

“Um, I’ve noticed that.” I reply.

“I see.” He raises one eyebrow. “Can I see your ID?” I forgot it.

“Um, yeah.” I say. I really don’t want to shoot him; I’ve done enough of that already. I pretend to fish around in my pockets. “Oh, I must have lost it. I thought that Rodian looked shady.” I mutter.

“What?”

I shrug and then lean forward toward him, putting my hands on the table and letting my shoulders spread out. He swallows as I feel my shirt slip a little. He forces his eyes up and into mine. He shakes a little, unable to break eye contact now that he’s in it.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he asks. “Look, if you lost your ID, we can send someone out to find it…” I decide to try a mind trick.

“You will let me pass.” I wave my hand, in front of his face.

“What?” he asks. I close my eyes. When I open them again he’s looking down my shirt. Even if it was lower, there’s still not much to see, so I guess he’s pretty bored. I force my upper lip to not flip back into a snarl and keep my hands firmly on the table.

“Would you stop that?” I ask. He starts and looks back up.

“Sorry, miss.” He says, but I can tell he doesn’t mean it. I straighten up and he looks dismayed. I can tell he doesn’t get much to do all day.

“Listen, if you want to see the Senator, I’m sure we can arrange something…”

Lovely.

“No, I need to get up there now, she’s expecting me.” 

I don’t have time for this. I’m already getting nervous, if I can't get in soon I might back out of the whole thing. I’m already seeing numerous flaws in my hasty plan. He needs to let me by. But I don’t want to kill him. But I can't let him live so he can tell others I was here.

The need overcomes the want.

I pull my blaster out.

He gasps and tries to back away.

My cold green eyes show nothing as I pull the trigger, burning a hole in his chest, right through his heart.

His body tumbles to the floor.

 

I drag him out of sight in another hallway, hope no one uses it, and run to the elevator, punching the button repeatedly. When the door finally opens I run in and hit the button for the top floor. I lean against the back wall and grit my teeth as the door slowly closes.

The elevator grinds to a stop and the door begins to open before the top. I hit the close button and someone shouts as they hit the door in frustration. I sure hope they didn’t see me.

When the door opens at the top floor I come out, my pistols ready. I walk down the hall, taking note of the dirt being shed from my boots onto the red carpet. I open a door and walk into her office. A woman looks up and glares at me.

“What do you want?” she asks.

“You Senator Nato?” I ask. She nods. 

I don’t say anything else; just grab my gun and shoot her in the chest. She cries out, and then falls forward, her head thunking loudly against her desk. 

I hear running and turn to see ten of the Coruscant Police outside the room with their blasters trained on me.

“Put your hands up!” one shouts. I frown and open fire with my pistols. They’re all on the floor within a minute. I run out and charge the elevator. I stop and begin punching the button; I need to get out of here.

Something hits me from behind and I’m knocked forward. My forehead hits the wall hard and I smell blood. I turn and shoot a cop that hit me with his blaster. He falls to the floor in a heap. The door opens and I get in.

I run down the streets in my redhead form, ignoring people trying to get me to either buy stuff or just give them money straight out.

When I get into my room I lock the door and then drag the dresser in front of it.

The Empire’ll be looking for me, I left blood there. I’m probably caught on camera. I should have planned more, instead of just rushing in there. I need to run, get out of the area, hide out somewhere else.

I go downstairs and check out. The Chagrian looks confused; he must have thought I’d be staying longer.

I hike my sack up higher on my shoulder and walk through the city. I think I should get down to the underworld, among other lowlife scum.

I find another hotel near a bar down there, and I walk in. A Rodian’s keeping the place, and he seems a bit annoyed that someone’s checking in.

“Second floor, room 12.” He says, motioning to some stairs that look like they should be condemned. I walk up and into a room. I stuff my sack under the bed and lock the windows.

I walk into the bar and sit down. A screen nearby is blaring Imperial propaganda and I grit my teeth.

“Awful, huh?” the bartender asks me. I nod. “Yeah, business has dropped by half since those troopers have started making checkups around here. What do you want to drink?”

“Nothing too strong.” I tell him. He nods and hands me something.

“Attention citizens! Senator Herri Nato of Vodran was murdered earlier today along with some of the Coruscant police, and we have figured out who the murderer is.” I look up as a military guy comes on. 

“A blood sample taken from the crime scene matches up with

 Miirraa Tensraka, a former admiral in the Republic. Citizens should know she is armed and extremely dangerous. She can use a wide variety of weapons and can change her shape. If you see anyone who matches these pictures, report them immediately, and you will be rewarded.” A series of pictures come up on the screen, one of my normal form, then my clone form, then the Zabrak.

“I wonder why they’re in such a stir.” The bartender says.

“She’s a Senator.” I reply.

“Vodran’s not very important. What’s Tensraka done to get her on a red alert besides murder?”

“Maybe she doesn’t like the Empire.” Someone next to me says.

“Quiet, you don’t know who’s listening. Want some more?” I shrug and he looks back at the screen.

 


	3. Chapter 3

I walk into the bathroom. I look at my shadowy eyes in the mirror and sigh. I close my eyes, blocking out the dirty room. When I open them again I reach down to get some water. Something flashes in the mirror and I look up.

“You’re never going to escape me.” The Imperial steps into the light.

 

I wake up. He’s coming into my dreams. He’s right; I’ll never be free. I’ll carry what I did forever.

 

In the morning I walk down the streets. I smell food and realize I haven’t eaten anything since before I killed the Senator. I go over to a stand selling meats and get a small one. I stand by a wall, tearing the food apart with my teeth.

I look up when I’m done and see a bunch of people clamoring and clumped around something. I walk toward the crowd and then stop. I see a black nexu with blue eyes sniffing around. She catches my scent and stiffens up, looking right at me. She lunges, nearly pulling the chain out from a Twi’lek’s hands. I hear her yell at the nexu but the cat ignores her, her eyes only for me. She yowls to me, crying for me to come to her and tell her it’s all right, that everything will be normal again. I want to go to her, to run to her, hug her, pet her, let her awful breath fill my nose and mouth, but I can't. They’ll never take me back.

I turn and walk away as the nexu’s heart breaks.

 


	4. Chapter 4

I keep walking until I finally collapse outside a nightclub. I look up at the darkening sky and feel a few raindrops hit my head. I look back down at the street. I hear a whimper and someone running, but I keep my head down, pretending to be part of the wall. I hear someone yelling for Anya, and a chain rattling the street. 

I look up as the nexu walks toward me, her eyes full of pain and bewilderment. She slowly nudges my leg, her eyes begging me to love her and to come back.

“I can never go back.” I tell her. Her eyes look into mine, and she licks my hand, and then bites it. I ignore the pain and stand up. I walk away, then stop and turn as she hits the back of my knee with her head.

“You can't stay with me. It’s too dangerous.” I tell her. She hisses softly and follows me a few more steps. “Do you really want to follow me?” I ask her. She rubs her head against my leg, her tail flicking back and forth. “Come on, then.” I tell her, and we walk away from where Numa shouts for Anya, her orders to come back in vain, as the cat’s walking behind me into the dark, another link to me vanishing.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“Where’s Anya?” Ahsoka asks. I’m in the pirate ship, in the hangar. 

I’m seeing what my ship is seeing.

“She ran off on Coruscant. She smelled something.” Numa tells her.

“Where?”

“The underworld.”

“I think we’ve found her.”

Ahsoka turns the ship down toward the planet.

 

I open my eyes.

They’re coming for me.

Something’s biting my arm. I look over and see Anya staring at me, with my forearm in her mouth.

“What?” I ask. She looks at me with large eyes. “I don’t have any food.” I tell her. She lets go and crawls under the bed.

 

I walk by an outdoor café as a little kid. A man has just left, scraps of nuna still on his plate. I walk over carefully, and grab the plate. A waiter yells at me but I ignore him and run. I change back into my fiery-haired form away from the café and climb the stairs to our room. I toss a piece to Anya and scarf down my own.

I look out the window at a train stop.

“Anya, you done?” I ask. Anya squeaks. I bend down and hand her my weapons to swallow. She does and shakes herself, loose fur flying away.

“Come on. We got to go.” I grab my sack and open the door.

Outside I make my way toward the station, shoving my way through the crowds.

Anya and I run toward the train as the last passengers are getting on. I push past other people hauling luggage and children and get on. There isn’t any room to sit so I hang onto a bar on the ceiling as the train shoots off. 

Anya hisses at a girl who tries to pet her, and when the girl starts to cry she looks up at me. I frown slightly and she looks down. Anya then sniffs the girl’s knee. The kid gasps and tries to retract into her father’s side, but stops as Anya licks her awkwardly. She lays a timid hand on my nexu’s head and scratches Anya on one of her tufts. I smirk as Anya wiggles and purrs.

The train stops at the business district and I get off. Anya follows behind closely as I head toward a landing platform. There’s a ship getting ready to take off, and a passenger ship being loaded. 

I make my way toward it, show my ID, and pay the fee. I walk toward the ship and I grin. I’m almost out of here. I move faster, and trip over a cart with luggage on it. I hit the ground hard and feel my shape flicker. I hear people shouting as I stand up and I touch my cheek. My scar is visible.

I turn and see stormtroopers running toward me.

“Anya, hide!” I tell her. She looks at me, then at the troopers, and runs. Two troopers grab at me and I kick them away. They grab their blasters and move to shoot, but I know we’re in too close quarters for them to take the risk. I charge them and knock them to the ground, then get up and try to run. I’m almost to the street when five troopers block it, their weapons trained on me. I hear more coming and see troopers on all sides. One comes up behind me and cuffs me.

I am forced toward a speeder and pushed onto it. The driver flies us away from the landing pad and toward the prison.

 


	6. Chapter 6

I don’t fight as I’m being pushed into the prison. They need to think I’m weak.

 

The other prisoners look at me as I am released from the cuffs and shoved into a cell. I look up at where a red Twi’lek sits watching me. I keep my eyes expressionless and sit down.

 

My body has remained still for hours. I haven’t meditated or anything, just listened. The two prisoners in the next cell are male and they hate each other. The guards come by every few hours.

 

I hear the shield turn off and I’m forced up onto my feet. We go into a mess where we’re given yellow slop meant to be food. I taste it, and I doubt its edibility.

 

“What’re you in for?” someone asks me.

“Killing a Senator.” I reply.

“Who?” Someone else asks.

“Herri Nato.” I tell him. I hear someone laughing.

“You must be Tensraka.” I hear a Chagrian snickering.

“Maybe.”

“Not sure?”

“Sure.”

“Not talkative, are you?”

“What’s it to you?” I look at a female Zabrak. All the prisoners here are female, I guess they keep the genders separate.

“You’re quite rude. How on earth did you keep your position with that attitude?”

“Battle droids aren’t shown manners.” The Zabrak snorts and turns away.

“What are you in for?” I ask her. She slowly looks back at me.

“Killing three admirals, all tougher than you could ever be.” She smirks, her eyes daring me to make a move.

“Really? How’d you kill them?”

“Blaster.”

“That explains it, then.” I turn back to my food.

“Explains what?”

“Oh, just how a squirt like you could take on three tough admirals and live. Not very honorable, now was it?” she snarls and stands up.

“Why you--” she grabs her fork and moves to stab me. I turn, grab her wrist and twist it, forcing her hand open and letting the utensil fall to the floor. I slam her arm back against the table and grab her throat.

“Tougher than me, huh? I wonder how you killed them if they were tougher than me. I’m not afraid of a squirt like you. There’s no way you could ever hurt me.” I mutter in her ear. She’s breathing hard and her eyes are dilated. A trooper pulls me off her and pushes me away.

“Break it up!” he orders. I shrug and he leaves. The Zabrak glares at me and moves to the other side of the room.

 


	7. Chapter 7

“You gonna do that for the whole of your term?” I look up at the Twi’lek from where I’m sitting on the floor.

“What?” I ask.

“I said, you gonna sit on that floor for the whole of your term?” she repeated.

“Maybe.”

“Don’t try pulling that stuff with me. Unlike that Zabrak I’m a killer. She got in for dealing spice. I’ve killed a lot of Imperials, and look where it got me. A maximum security prison with an hour of free time every day.” She climbs off her bunk and stands in front of me. I stand up. We’re eye to eye without bending down or straightening up.

“Tensraka, you’ll find that people in here will hate you for coming from a position of authority. No one will stand up for you, no one will help you. I know you don’t like flaunting your position--and don’t look at me like that, I can read people like a billboard. And you are a very well-lit billboard.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

“Because you’re strong. You know what you want and you'll get it. But the people in here are stronger. I'm not talking about the inmates. I’m talking about the guards, the staff, the interrogators. I'm warning you because you are exactly the most dangerous person they’ve ever brought in. They know your reputation. They know you'll try to get out. I can help you with that.” I frown slightly.

“I know you don’t trust me. You’ve got a good reason to. But trust me when I tell you this: right now, if you want an ally, I’m the best choice you got.”

“Thanks, I’ll think about it.” I tell her. One of those shuttles comes to take us down for our free time.

 


	8. Chapter 8

My arms shake slightly as I push the dumbbell up over me. I’ve never used one of these, and I find it pointless. Better to be lifting crates instead of weights, doing something that you have a reason to do, like getting boxes into a room to unpack. 

Or chucking Imperials over a cliff.

I stop lifting the weight and sit up. The Twi’lek is talking to another Zabrak and a Frenk. They glance over toward me every so often, and then make motions like fighting in the air.

What do they want with me? Someone half crazy to draw the fire? Easy, troopers love trying to hit me. And I need to get out. The Twi’lek said she could help. I don’t trust her, she’s too forthcoming. No one comes up to someone brand new and asks them to help in a dangerous task, not when they don’t know if the person can be trusted. But I don’t have any other options.

I have to get back to Anya.


	9. Chapter 9

“My guess is execution. The Imperials won't want the possibility of you escaping. They’ll push it through as quickly as possible, to make sure you're out of the way.” I look up at the Twi’lek, who told me she was born Ash’leman, but since she was kicked off Ryloth she became Ash Leman.

“Pleasant thought. You said you could get me out of here?” I say. She nods.

“The Zabrak, Nia, and the Frenk, Jisly, they're in on it too. They--” she paused as a guard flew by. When he was gone she continued in a whisper: “They can help. Nia’s a hacker and Jisly’s great with a gun. All we have to do is make a plan.”

“You don’t have a plan?” I ask.

“Well, we did, but then you came along, and that made a difference.”

“Why not just leave me?”

“Because it’s a good thing you're here. You're a Changeling, you can get us in and out as a stormtrooper.”

“So what’s your plan now that I’m here?”

“We start a riot. During the Clone Wars a bounty hunter got out using that tactic. We can slide out during the chaos.”

“Good. He also used the crematorium to get out. But they’ve probably got that heavily guarded.”

“Yeah.”

“How do we get out?”

“By deactivating the shields. We can walk right out.”

“And me as a stormtrooper?”

“Um… oh, you can escort us out!”

“That makes no sense.”

“Oh yeah.” she leans back against the wall. “Well, once we’re out we’ll need to change. You can probably do that.” I nod.

“How do we start the riot?” I ask.

“We need someone to attack a guard. You’re the obvious choice. Get him down, get his gun, start stunning guards.”

“I can do that.” I say, lifting my chin.

 


	10. Chapter 10

I lie on the bottom bunk. Ash is above me and snoring softly. I shift onto my side and try to sleep. 

The sterilized smell of the cleaning fluids droids use to wipe the place down gets into my nose and brain, pressing against my skull and sending sharp jabs all over my scalp. I shake myself but that only makes it worse.

I hear a guard coming by and stop outside the cell. I wait for him to leave, but the whirr of the skiff doesn’t fade. Then it gets louder as the shield deactivates. 

My eyes open a little and I see a trooper in the entrance. He walks quietly over and looks around, then takes his helmet off and puts his hand on the top bunk. I hear Ash’s muffled yelling as she thrashes around. 

The trooper’s knee is by my face, and I move away silently so it doesn’t smash my face, and then kick him hard. He flies backward and I stop him with the Force before he slams into the wall. I get off the lower bunk and lift him into the air. Ash gets down beside me, breathing hard.

“You okay?”

“I will be.” I turn back to the trooper. I drop him and the lift him back up in Force Choke.

“What do we do with him?” I ask her.

“You can use the Force?” she asks quietly.

“A little. What do we do with--” I whisper.

“We can't leave him alive.” she mutters.

“Right. Hang on.” I tell her. I look at the trooper. “How do we leave the prison?” I ask him.

“Why should I tell you?” he asks. I close my hand a little and he gurgles.

“Well, otherwise you'll die slowly.” I say. 

His eyes bug out and he mutters, “Okay, okay! I’ll--I-- there’s a… there’s twenty shields between here and the entrance to the prison. There’s a different code for each door. There are guards-- guard patrolling all over. H--happy?” I stop choking him and let him fall. He lies on the floor and stares up at me.

“We need to go.” Ash says. I nod and choke him again. He lets out a strangled cry just before I close my fist.

 


	11. Chapter 11

We get on the skiff and fly up to where Ash’s friends are. I use the Force to turn off the shield and they come out.

“This wasn’t the plan.” Jisly says.

“No time!” Ash tells her and motions for them to get on. They do and we fly down to the shields. We get off the skiff and I use the Force to turn those shields off and we run through. The prison is waking up; troopers are coming, shouting orders as they go. I turn and see two troopers with electrostaffs charging us and my instincts kick in. 

I jump over one and knock him down, grab his weapon and swing at the other. He blocks, twists the weapon and smacks me with the point in my arm. I yelp and kick him. When he staggers I bring one side down hard on his head, the stick punching through his helmet and into his head. 

I grab the other staff and dodge a stun bolt from another trooper running toward me, then Force pull the blaster away from him. I toss it to Ash and she shoots him, then two others. Nia and Jisly take their blasters and we run.

I take the next shield out and Nia and Jisly shoot the guards. More troopers run toward us firing everywhere but are taken down. We keep running until we hit the next shield, pause as I take it down, and then keep running, shooting as we go.

The last shield looks like the bottom of a hole with slick sides where bugs and lizards fell in; there are so many troopers. I Force push some into the shield to stun them, and then throw others to the sides. Ash, Nia and Jisly shoot them all. I turn off the shield and open the doors and we run out into the darkness and noise of the city.

 


	12. Chapter 12

I take a stormtrooper’s armor and walk down the street toward a shop. The cashier looks startled as I take some clothes for us, pay, and leave.

I pull my new clothes on with my back to the other three who are all wrapped up in their own changing.

“Where do we go? They’ll start running sweeps for us soon.” I say to the wall.

“We need a ship.” Ash replies. 

“How?” I ask.

“You shift into someone and buy it.” Nia says.

“I’d need money.” I tell her.

“Jisly can handle that.” Ash says. I nod and face them. Ash straightens up, her lekku hanging down her back. Jisly nods toward Ash, then me, and runs off into the dark. 

 


	13. Chapter 13

We walk toward a landing platform. A Chagrian watches us as we go toward a thin black ship. Jisly opens the door and I see something behind it. Fast, too fast to react, four shots are fired from behind. I duck and turn, and see four stormtroopers lining up their next shots. I run and jump behind a pile of crates and see the Chagrian just watching, leaning against a wall smoking.

The stormtroopers fire again, and someone cries out. I see Nia fall, hit the ground and stop moving.

She’s probably dead. I feel nothing, I can’t, I need to survive. 

I think Ash is in the ship; it powers up and idles, waiting to take off. I have to get over there, but there’s no cover.

Someone else screams and I see a figure fall off the side. I line up where I have to go--get behind the ship, move fast, get in the ship fast. My mind is racing and I tense, ready to run. The stormtroopers are moving toward where I am. I have to move. I have to run. My heart is thudding loudly, my breath shallow. They’re almost on top of me. My instincts kick in and I run. They fire at me and somehow miss. I zigzag, dodging blaster fire and aim for the door. I jump in and hit the floor hard, sliding into the wall. I lie there as the door closes and the ship takes off.

 


	14. Chapter 14

I get up off the floor and go into the cockpit. Ash is steering us upward, into space. I sit down in the co-pilot’s chair and turn to Ash. She moves one of her lekku to hide her face. We sit in silence as the ship goes into space.

“We need new clothes.” She says suddenly. “Armor and such. Weapons.” I open my mouth and gesture toward where she had dropped her blaster.

“Pistols, Miirraa. Knives. Blades.” She moves her lekku and looks at me. Her eyes, dark, deep wells of blue, stare me down, her face hard.

“Where?”

“Lias Spon.” I’ve never heard of that planet. She sets the hyperdrive and activates it. I am shoved against the seat as we shoot into hyperspace.

I don’t know her. Why did I trust her? She might be taking me to where she can turn me in for a bounty. But I don’t have a choice. I have to see where she’s taking us. She’s fast, good with ships. She probably is an assassin. I saw her with the blaster. She knows how to fight. I don’t think I could take her down easily.

I hope I don’t have to.

 


	15. Chapter 15

“We’re here.” I look over at her. Ash’s eyes stare straight ahead. I think she didn’t just meet Nia and Jisly. I open my mouth to ask her, but we fly out of hyperspace over an ugly brown-green planet. It’s lumpy. The planet actually looks lumpy, there are lots of bumps and dents like it had a bad case of warts, or had had a beating. Ash steers the ship down into the atmosphere. 

The whole planet looks like one big swamp, and cities live on hills and plateaus over the swamp. There’s one, a large sparkly thing, in the middle of a network of bridges. Hills are covered in buildings, and are connected by thick metal covered bridges. There is a huge inverted cone on a large flat hill, and a steady stream of people around it.

“That’s an arena. The people here gamble on gladiator fights like the people on Tatooine gamble on podracing.” Ash looks at me. “If you get in trouble, you’re in the arena. We have to just get what we need and get out.”

“Well then why here?” I ask.

“It’s fairly isolated and unknown. I doubt anyone will recognize us, or that people will be looking here for bounties.”

“How do you know about it?” I look at her and her face contorts into a frown.

“I used to live here.”

 


	16. Chapter 16

We land the ship on a pad near that arena. There are people coming out, some staggering, others yelling, and some fighting.

“The battle just ended.” Ash mutters.

“What?” I turn to her.

“Battle. The arena will quiet down for a day or two, then if someone else gets in trouble, like, arrested, then there’ll be another battle.”

“How long can it go for?” I frown and stand up as Ash opens the door.

“The longest for when I was here was a day. Guy finally got eaten by a rancor.” I hear an explosion of yelling and commotion, along with blaster fire, and I go out of the ship. There’s a bunch of people chasing something, throwing ropes and shooting at it. I look at Ash. Her face is blank as she walks by me.

The bridges are narrow and it feels like a cage as I walk through. We go into the maze of buildings near the arena and I stop as we reach the square. Three men, two Trandoshans and a Human are holding onto ropes tied tightly around something. I can't see it clearly because the men keep moving. Then the creature lunges toward me and I gasp and step backward. It’s a nexu. It must be almost 2 meters, and I can see cuts and scrapes, some open and oozing. Fur has fallen out and the teeth are dark red from blood. I wouldn’t recognize it until it looked at me, with clear sky-blue eyes, pupil-less and hurt.

Anya.

I almost step forward. I want to, to scream, ‘What have you done to my nexu?’ to throw the men that have obviously hurt her, away, and take her back, to hug her and clean her up, so that she’ll heal, both her body and her heart.

But I can't. I can't step forward and take her away.

“This girl gave us a lot of trouble, but we took her in before those Imperials could. They’d have killed her--what a waste! This one’s got the build of a fighter, something that could kill a rancor!” the human talks on and on about her, how he and his cronies caught her on Coruscant, and how she was a natural fighter, and all the while she fought the Trandoshans, bit and clawed and screamed at them, almost taking off ones hand.

“Yup, she’s one to watch. I don’t know how many times she’s gotten out. Nearly killed me!” he proudly displays a thick, heavily scarred arm, and some claw marks are new, and seem to go much deeper than the others.

He finally has the Trandoshans drag her off, when she lunges again, latching onto the red Trandoshan’s arm, biting down hard. He shouts and I think swears at her, hitting her with a stun baton. She whimpers and drops, stunned.

I want to pounce on him and rip him apart.

I want to kill him.

I want to spread his limbs across the planet.

I want to kill him slowly, painfully, him and his boss.

I will make them pay.

No.

Wait.

Patience.

You’ll get your chance.

You’ll be able to hurt them.

But not now.

Fight the urge.

You’ll hurt them.

Soon.

I will hurt them.

That is my promise.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Anya is gone, dragged back to the arena. Ash pulls me through streets and into a small store. Inside is a treasure trove of armor, weapons, gear, supplies, anything we could possibly need.

“How…? Isn’t this illegal?” I ask Ash.

“Yep. But no one cares about here.”

“Wait, I thought you said you were from Ryloth.” I say.

“I was exiled. I crashed here, in the swamp. Someone pulled me out.” Ash stares me down.

“Oh.” I look away. I hate her eyes, they look at you and she sees your soul, your heart, and all your secrets when your eyes meet hers. And you can barely look away once she’s got you.

“Come on, we need specific things and I know where to get them.”

Ash loves rifles. She grabbed each one and inspected it, touching it, making sure it was built right. She finally chose a narrow one with a long barrel. I got two pistols, seeing as Anya probably got the two I gave her out of her stomach a long time ago, along with my lightsabers.

I turn and see some armor on a shelf. Its Phase I armor. I can see the white under a mess of dents and dirt. I turn and Ash has the rifle and is standing in the doorway. I grab the holsters for the pistols, slide them in and walk in.

I then see something fluttering on a wall. A poster, smudged and dust-covered, hanging onto the wall by one corner, rolling in on itself. 

I smooth it out, and my face stares back at me. Not my face. A ghost. She doesn’t have shadows under her eyes, doesn’t have the eyes that are always looking for danger, for threats. She looks confident, prideful. She knows she can kill you but will probably let you live. She knows she has allies. She knows who her enemies are. Not anymore. She died when I destroyed her.

When I killed her.

I step back, away from the ghost. Or maybe I’m the ghost. I turn, move back into the sun. I have to run. The planet isn’t safe, who knows how many bounty hunters are hanging out here.

No, this planet is unknown. I’m still safe.

I walk back to Ash. She glances over and back to something. I follow her gaze and freeze. Gammoreans are walking towards us.

“Turn and walk away slowly and calmly.” She mutters. I do as she says. “Don’t look back, keep walking.”

My nerves are on fire. I need to run. 

No, I have to stay. If I run they’ll think we’re suspicious. 

If I run I can outdistance them. I need to run. I need to run. They’re going to catch us. We’re going to die. 

No. Stay here. Just walk. Save your energy. Fight your instincts. Stay. Stay. Don’t run. Hold still. Walk calmly. Fight the fire. You're ok. You're safe. Keep walking.

A Gamorrean says something in its language, I turn, Ash yells to run and a pair of binders are procured. I turn and run, adrenaline shooting me away from them. Ash is behind me, running as well. I hear the Gammoreans yelling at us, probably to stop, but we keep going.

Around the corner of the building, up and over the dumpster, there are stairs to the roof, climb those, keep moving. Ledge, jump, hit the other roof, don’t fall, run. Run. Run. 

They’re right behind you, they’re gonna kill you!

Something hits my back, I stumble, fall to the ground. I can’t move, something’s on top of me. Ash is a few feet away, a Gammorean’s axe against her back. The thing on top of me steps off and hauls me to my feet. More are coming.

I look over at Ash as the Gammoreans circle us. My body tenses, ready to attack. She shakes her head, almost imperceptibly.

Wait. We’ll get out of this. Her eyes beg. I nod slowly.

My arms are pinned behind me and I snarl as cold metal ensnares my wrists. Ash stiffens beside me and I hear cuffs click on her. The guard behind me pushes me forward and I walk, back the way we came, and toward the arena. We go into the arena through a low, wide door and down a dark hall. There’s no floor, just earth and the walls are mud. We are shoved into a room on the left of the hall and the guards leave. 

It’s a cell. No floor, and one window. I walk over and instantly regret doing so. Someone slams up against it, screaming. And animal roars, and I can hear flesh being torn. The person slides down to the ground and whatever it is begins eating him.

I back away and I see an arena. There’s one pillar, and a huge expanse of dirt around, stopping at the walls. I can see skeletons and decaying bodies in there. No weapons that I can see. Darn.

Someone opens the door and I turn. A tall Human with ice-blue eyes, dressed in an officer’s clothes, stands, hands behind his back, shoulders flexed, smirking at us.

“My dear Ash, how good of you to return.” His voice is like silk, but there’s a harsh undertone, like he tries to contain a monster, but it could explode out at any minute.

“Believe me, I did not want to come back but circumstances left me no choice.” She replies. Her words are fast, her voice tight.

“That breakout changed your plans, didn’t it?” her eyes go wide. “Oh, I see I surprised you. Don’t worry, it was quite publicized. How many troopers did you kill?”

I’m invisible. They’re ignoring me. I hope it continues.

“A few.”

“50, if the reports are correct. You and your…friend.” He looks at me. “The famed Miirraa Tensraka. You just keep killing, don’t you?” Don’t speak. Don’t give him ammo. “Quiet, aren’t you? That’s fine. You won’t have to talk soon.”

Soon? A firing squad. I’m gonna die in front of a firing squad.

“You’ll have a few days. Have fun in the arena.” He leaves, his boots silent on the dirt.

I’m going to die for people’s entertainment.

 


	18. Chapter 18

“Who is he?” I follow Ash around the room.

“He’s the leader of this planet, his name is Drexen Ronez.”

“How does he know you?” I ask her. She shakes her head. “What did you do?” She stops moving and looks at me.

“I began my career as an assassin.” She stands in front of the window. “I went off-world to escape arrest.”

She won't say anything else, despite my requests.

Two days and I’m walking toward a thick door with light coming out from around it. The Gammorean shoves the door open, and shoves me out.

I stumble a bit into the arena. It’s huge, and there’s a pole in the middle. The skeletons have no weapons.

The crowd is screaming as a door on the other side opens and a huge Trandoshan walks out. He looks at me and grins, and then charges. I roll out of the way and he skids to a stop. He balls up his fists and swings. I duck but the other hits me in the ear. I fall to the ground as he looms up over me. He raises his foot to crush my skull and I hook my foot around his knee and pull. He stumbles and I scramble to my feet.

Go for the pole. 

I charge the thing and scramble up it. The sides are rough and there are small handholds. On the top it’s not very wide, but my focus is on the Trandoshan beginning his climb. When he’s almost to the top I stomp on his face. He snarls but it doesn’t do anything. I jump off but he grabs my ankle. The world spins down as my face hits the side of the pole. He drops me after the impact and I fall heavily to the ground.

The world is spinning and fuzzy, shapes are distorted and there’s a green blur rushing toward me. I hear people screaming, and then one person.

“Up! Get up! Don’t let them win!” I turn my head slightly, and see something red by the wall.

“Ash…” I can barely move my mouth. I can feel warm liquid running down my face, and the Trandoshan’s foot presses my head into the dirt. 

I can just let it go. I don’t need to keep fighting. I’ve fought all my life. Maybe I can just stop for once…

Something else is running down my face, and it’s not blood, sweat or dirt. Am I crying? I must be, it’s definitely salt water. 

I close my eyes, and then I hear something. Not words, but a whirring. Like a ship. My ship. And a meowing. Anya. And then the barren world of Rassas. This is why I fight. This is why I survive. My eyes fly open. I have the Force. I can survive.

My lips pull back in a snarl and as my skull is trying not to be split like a melon, I call on the Force and throw the Trandoshan across the arena. The world comes into focus and I slowly stand. I can’t feel my face. I don’t want to touch it, I might not have a nose anymore, and I have an enemy right here.

Energy is fire, and my blood burns. I’m fairly sure that my eyes are glowing, and I can feel sheer power throughout my body. My legs tense, and as the Trandoshan stands, I leap and land on him. He falls back and I land, already Force choking him.

The power is back. I am powerful. As he falls I turn. Let me rip, let me kill. Let me tear them apart. I am stronger than anything they can dish out. The Imperial said I couldn’t survive without this power. Why would I want to? I can be more powerful than I ever was, ever could be. I could leave the arena right now. Why don’t I? The sides are shielded. I’ve tried jumping through a shield before. Never again.

I need to get out. The door’s opening. Who is this that I can kill? A rancor, three meters high and drooling. Perfect. 

I leap, the Force flying through my hands, grabbing at the rancor’s insides and tearing them apart. I’ll land on its back and tear its head off. It screams, and its hand bats me out of the way. I fly into the wall and fall to the ground.

My vision blurs again and I am no longer powerful. It does not want me, I am weak now. I stand and search out the rancor’s heart through the Force. It’s hammering as I grab it and crush it. The rancor roars and falls. I stumble, my energy draining quickly. I look up at where the Ronez guy is, a covered box, with most likely a shield around it. I wait for him to send something else in to kill me, but none of the doors open. He’s playing with me. I climb back up the pole and wait.

 


	19. Chapter 19

I look up at Ronez. The sky has become dark and only a few people remain. I’ve gone into a light sleep crouched up on the pole, but I’m still tired. I hear a crash behind me and turn. Three Gammoreans charge me, but they can’t see. I can. I grab one with the Force and break his neck, and then the other two go the same way.

Then I hear something behind me, and the pole shakes. I lose my grip and fall to the ground. I look behind me at a huge reek. It snarls and bellows, getting ready to charge. I quickly begin feeling for how to crush it, but it slams into me. I fall to the ground and cover my head instinctively, and it runs over me. I try to push it away with the Force as it wheels around to charge me again, but I can't. I get up and run. There are no weapons in the arena, only bones. Wait.

The body of the rancor is right in front of me. I grab a leg bone from something else and hack at its side. It’s not doing anything. I turn and the reek is running at me. I jump out of the way as it slams into the side of the rancor, tearing a hole. The reek backs up and I pull at the rancor’s flesh from on top of it. 

The reek gets ready to charge again and I grab an exposed rib. I pull at it and it slowly moved upward. I yank harder as the reek runs back to the other side, turns, and runs at me again. I pull as hard as I can and it comes free. I jump down and hold it like a spear. The reek is almost on top of me and I hold the sharp bone as far out as I can. The reek hits it in its mouth and I watch as the rib comes out the other side. The reek bellows and hits me and I’m forced backward into the rancor.

I land on something inside it that I don’t want to know about and watch as the reek backs away moaning. I grab another rib and walk toward it. The animal looks at me with fear and pain in its eyes and I feel pain in my gut. I put the tip against its stomach, near where I think its heart is and shove. The reek screams and collapses.

I stand away and look at the stands. I’m fairly sure money has changed hands, but one thing I know for sure--from what I can see of Ronez in his fancy light-up box, he isn’t happy.

 


	20. Chapter 20

From atop my pole I have a wonderful view of the sunrise. I have no idea what they’re going to throw at me and when, but I do know that I'm tired and hungry and thirsty.

“Miirraa. Miirraa!” I turn slightly. Ash is by the window and beckons to me. I glance up at Ronez, who’s deep in conversation with that smuggler who has Anya. I climb slowly off the pole and over to the wall under the box. I look at Ash and run to the window.

“What?” I ask. She says nothing and hands me a small cup of water and a slice of bread. I take them and down them quickly, hand the cup back to her and look up at the box. They didn’t notice. I move back to my pole and crouch on it, waiting. Ronez waves what’s-his-face away and looks back at me. He smirks slightly and says something, and then a door behind me opens. I turn and face a Feeorin with a force pike. I duck as he swings at my head and punch him in the stomach. He kicks me and raises the pike to stab me. I run forward and head butt him in the chest, knocking him backward. I grab at the pike along the handle and try to take it away. He pulls back and I put my foot on his stomach and kick. He grunts and lets go, falling backward. I hold the force pike, power surging back into me. I am strong again. I stand over the Feeorin, pike above me. I’m smiling, I have won. He yells something but I don’t listen. I bring the pike down and send it through his skull. I pull the pike out and turn. There’s no one else. The power dissipates again. I am alone.

I crouch on top of the pole, waiting for someone to attack. I hold my force pike protectively, gripping it tightly. I look over to where Ronez is. He stares back, looking bored.

I look away and lower my head. I’m tired, and the hot sun isn’t helping. At least I’m not hungry right now.

 

The sky is dark and its getting cold. I drift in and out of sleep, sometimes thinking I can hear a door open, but nothing comes for me.

It must have rained when I was sleeping at one point, and I'm cold and damp as the moon goes behind clouds.

I turn as a door opens, and something comes into the arena. I crouch lower, ready to spring. I hear something climbing up toward me and I look down. A Zabrak is near the middle of the pole, but even that’s too close. I throw my force pike and send it down into the Zabrak’s skull. He shouts and falls, sending it deeper through his brain, out the other side.

I pull the pike back to me with the Force. I reel, the world spinning and hook onto the sides of the pole. I look up to the rancor body, look around, and jump off. If no one else is here, I can get food. I pull some meat off a rib and tear into it. I scarf it down and grab some more. I know you shouldn’t eat raw meat, but it’s my only choice.

 

I turn away and then stumble. I can feel the meat coming back up. I go down on my hands and knees and vomit everything up, and when I’m done, try to wash the taste out with my spit. It doesn’t help.

I stand up and climb back up my pole. I feel incredibly dizzy, and now I’m thirsty and my stomach’s rumbling.

 

I do not sleep or doze all night. I can’t, there’s a vile taste in my mouth and someone thought it was funny to shine a light at the pole. They want to drive me back down onto the ground, but I won’t go down there. I won’t be an easy target.

 

The dawn slowly comes, and with it heat. I look around a few times, and then jump down and run to where Ash is. Or was. I look inside the window and its empty. I turn away and climb back up my pole and sit there, pike in my hands.

 

I hear a door open, and I look behind me. There isn’t anything there. I turn, lifting my pike and standing slowly. There’s something else here, but I can’t see it. I rotate slowly. There isn’t anything here.

I crouch back down. And something huge slams into me from behind.

 


	21. Chapter 21

I fall to the ground and look up. There’s a nexu up there, tan and grey striped, with blood encrusted around its mouth. It prepares to jump on me and I get up and run. A deafening roar echoes throughout the arena and I hear something flying through the air. 

I drop and roll to the side and the nexu lands where I was. It turns and snarls, and I swing at it with the pike. It screeches as the pike grazes its skin and then it lunges at me. I stab at it with the pike, knock the cat away and then brace myself as it prepares to charge. 

Then I hear the pike power down. I touch the tip and receive no jolt. I look up at Ronez and he’s grinning. I turn back to the nexu and stab at it with the pike. It looks at me and roars, then grabs the pike and breaks it. I back up slowly. If I can move slowly enough, it won’t charge. Just keep moving slowly, slowly…

 

The nexu roars and lunges. It hits me in the chest and I slam into the ground.

 

A door opens somewhere and someone’s screaming. The nexu stands over me, quills on end. It snarls and opens its mouth wide to bite my head off. I stare down its throat and then close my eyes.

Then something knocks it off of me. I open my eyes and look at what saved me. A huge black nexu. It snarls and bites at the tan one, then roars. I get up slowly and back away, toward the rancor. The tan one sees me and charges. I raise my right arm in defense as it swipes at me, but I forget to duck.

It tears three huge gashes into my arm and I let out a scream. I fall and look at it. Three deep cuts bleeding all over the place. I look up and grab at the rancor rib. Then I see the bugs. 

Little flies, all over the body. A few fly toward my arm, smelling new blood and land on it. I ignore them and pull another rib out. Then they begin biting me. I yell again and bat them away, getting my own blood all over my hand. I stumble with the bone, and look at the nexus. One has dark red eyes, and for a second, the black one turns and I see an expanse of sky-blue.

“Anya!” I scream to her. She looks up to me and back down at the tan nexu. I run toward the nexu with the rib as a spear, and aim for its back. I bring the rib down, slicing into the tan nexu. It screeches and whips around, locking onto my left leg. I let out another scream and then fall to my knees. The nexu pulls at my leg but Anya bites the nexu’s neck. It screams and lets go, leaving holes.

I look at Anya as she slashes the nexu’s face and bites its neck. The nexu snarls and claws at her side, then rears up. Anya copies it and roars loudly and powerfully. She moves quickly in and bites the other’s stomach; forces it down and rakes the nexu’s stomach open with its claws. My vision blurs as Anya turns and walks over. She sniffs me, and I can hear the crowd whooping, thinking she’s going to kill me.

She won't. But there’s the hunger in her eyes, her bones showing through her skin, pain and fear and suffering in her wanting to explode out and kill people. Will I be her first victim?

She slowly sniffs my face, then my damaged arm, then my leg. Then she looks me in the eyes and licks my face carefully. She tries to clean the dried blood and sweat away, but gives up and nuzzles me.

“Hey, girl.” I whisper. She whines quietly. “They didn’t let you in on their own, did you?” she purrs. “You must have torn through them to get out here. To save me?” she licks my face, her blue eyes wide. I feel a smile creep onto my face, pinching where the blood is stuck to the skin. “Help me up, huh? We need to get out of here.” I look her in the eye and she does what I think is a nod.

She backs away and I roll over, using my good arm to help stand up. I straighten up, take a few steps toward my pole, and then a wave of exhaustion, pain and dizziness overcomes me, and I collapse, the dirt rushing to meet me as the world goes dark.

 


	22. Chapter 22

Is it raining? Something wet keeps hitting my face. I twitch, move my arms a bit and the rain stops. I hear Anya whining and I open my eyes. Then the smell of urine blasts my nose. I wipe my face where odd-tasting liquid runs down and look over at Anya.

“Did you… pee on me?” I ask her. She whines and somehow looks apologetic.

I move into a crouching position, waiting to see if I get dizzy. Nothing. I slowly stand, and lean against the pole for support. Anya bumps my leg gently with her head and grins at me. I smile slightly, and then look up at Ronez. I can see him clearly, a strange mix of rage and amusement. Then I see that Human that abused Anya. I hear Anya growl low in her throat, and bristle. I look up at them, anger and hate mixing in my gut.

I’m going to get out of here. Now.

I clear my throat and yell, “My name is Miirraa Tensraka, Admiral in the Grand Army of the Republic! And I hereby order you to release me and my companion!” I added in a lower tone, “Or so help me I will kill you slowly and painfully.” As I utter the last word, Anya roars loudly, her quills and the clumps of fur left standing on end. 

I wait. The few people in the crowd shift nervously, talking amongst themselves. Fear flashes across Ronez’s face, but then shifts to a skull-like mask. The Human backs up and leaves the box.

“You asked for it.” I say to him. I turn and grab the pole with the Force. I begin lifting it, almost dropping it, it’s so heavy. Then it suddenly becomes easier. I throw it at the box, and I see the whites of Ronez’s eyes just before the pole crushes him. I fling it down to make a ramp for Anya, and me and we climb up it. I nearly slip a few times, but I make it to the top. Then Anya chirps and runs her head into me.

“What?” she grins and begins hacking. I watch as my lightsabers reappear.

“You must have put some thought into preserving those, didn’t you?” I ask. She squeaks and runs out into the remains of a hallway. I grab my lightsabers and follow.

“Anya, where would Ash be?” I ask her. She cocks her head and stares. “Never mind. Come on!” I say, and stumble. I catch myself and lean against the wall for a moment, then walk down the hall. I round the bend and freeze. 

A woman stands there. She’s blond and has dark amber eyes, and frowns as she gazes intensely at me.

“What?” I say nervously, and back up a bit.

“I’m not here to kill you, if that’s what you think. I’m here to help.” She tells me and sits on her hip. I move to the side of the hallway and edge around her.

“No thanks.” I say.

“Your ship’s gone, you can't get off-world that way.” She turns to face me. “I have a ship. Right now, I’m your only option.”

I really don’t want to trust her, but if she’s right, we’ll need to take her ship. She looks at me, bending so her chest comes forward. I’m pretty glad she’s wearing a short cloak that comes around front to cover her chest; I really don’t need to see it.

“Well?” she asks.

“We’ll see. Where are the dungeons?”

“I already have your friend outside.” Okay, she gambled a lot thinking I’d survive.

Anya’s not growling. She’s watching the woman calmly, like she’s met her before.

“You let Anya out.” I say.

“No, I simply tampered with the locking mechanism and hinges.” She replies, looking at me calmly.

“You knew she would get out.” I take one of my lightsabers in my good arm and get ready to activate it.

“Yes.” she nods.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“Kiera Brysin. Don’t bother with your name, I heard you yell it.” She inclines her head, pride in her eyes.

“Okay. How do we get out?”

“Follow me, Tensraka.”

 


	23. Chapter 23

We race out, or rather, she runs ahead with a blaster, and I move as fast as I can, and Anya stays at my side. Ash stands by a small, sleek ship and her face relaxes as she sees me. She opens her mouth to say something, but Anya sees something and charges. I turn and follow her. I’m not leaving her again.

She pads down streets after a figure, and then freezes. Two Trandoshans block the way. She snarls and bristles, and launches into them she slashes one’s throat and the other’s chest, and watches them fall. She steps over their bodies and keeps following whoever it was, down another street and into an alley. Whoever it is moves faster, probably hoping to lose Anya. She finally I assume gets bored and runs at him, hitting him and knowing him down. I walk forward and see the Human that captured her. He looks at the angry nexu as she snarls and bristles, then at me.

“Get the nexu off of me!” he shouts.

“She’s my nexu.” I say.

“Call her off! Please!” his eyes are wide with fear.

“Can’t. If I tried she’d bite my hand off.” I won't help him. He hurt Anya, now he’s going to pay.

“Kessk! Garrn! Get over here!”

“Those your Trandoshan cronies?” I ask. He looks at me. “My nexu ripped them apart.” His eyes go wide and his face gets paler that he already was.

“Get--get her off. Please. I’ll pay you, I’ll do anything-- don’t let her kill me!”

“I told you, I can't. Maybe you should have considered this before you hurt her.” I will not show anything in my face. 

He begins to babble on, begging me not to hurt him, to which I tell him that it’s the nexu who’ll hurt him. Anya snarls and her quills stand straight on end, then roars. He lets out a wild scream as Anya grabs his head in her mouth and bites down hard on his neck.

 

I turn away and we walk back to where the ship is.

 


	24. Chapter 24

“Get on the ship!” Kiera yells at me, and I try to move faster. Anya runs in front of me, then circles down behind, runs to my side and repeats the motions.

I slowly walk up into the ship. Kiera follows me and walks into the cockpit. The hall I stand in is narrow, and there are two doors on opposite sides down at the other end, along with an airlock. To my right is the cockpit.

“Go into the door on the right side, there’s medical equipment in there.” I hear the woman say. I cautiously obey and head in. 

There are a few bacta patches in a bin, but other than that I don’t know what the stuff is. I grab a bacta patch and put it on my arm, then another on my leg, and hope that helps.

I walk back out into the cockpit. Ash turns and looks at me incredulously.

“That can't be your idea of doctoring yourself.” I shrug.

“I put some bacta on it. That’ll fix it.”

“No it won't. Come on.” She takes me back into the room and takes the patches off. She drags me into the refresher adjacent to the other room, a tiny thing that barely fits me. She sits on my right leg and cleans my arm and left leg carefully. She also cleans the blood off of my face then takes me back into the other room and puts bacta on it, and then wraps them in bandages.

“How have you lived this long?” she asks me.

“I don’t get hurt.” She looks up at me, then stands up and turns to leave.

“Ash.” She stops. “Who is that? Why are we on her ship?”

“Her name is Kiera Brysin. She got me out, said that you’d be out soon. She told me to wait by her ship.” she won't look at me again.

“Why did you go along with it?”

“She’s our only option, Miirraa. We’ll ditch her soon.” She walks out, leaving Anya and me in a creepy, badly lit room full of medical stuff that looks like torture equipment.

 


	25. Chapter 25

My arm is healing too slowly. Moving it opens the wound back up, sending blood running down past my elbow in red rivulets. The nexu bite sends sharp spikes of pain through my leg if it touches something, so I have to walk around in shorts for now. I need to be healed and ready to fight again. This never happened before!

Granted, I’ve never been in a three-day fight for my life against multiple opponents before. But I should have been stronger and faster.

Ash will heal me. But not fast enough. We could be ambushed and die, and I won't have a chance to defend myself. No, we won't get ambushed. We’re in hyperspace, and we can hide in the Outer Rim.

 

My arm is weak. I can’t use it, and the claw marks run long and deep. It will scar, not matter how much bacta is used. I need it fixed now!

 

I can wear pants again, though mine are torn, bloodstained and dirt-encrusted. I can use a pair of Kiera’s for now.

 

My arm can move without bleeding, though I can’t punch or swing a lightsaber, and the muscles I need to hold something like a pistol are weak.

 

I will fight. I need to fight. With both arms.

 

I stand against a wall in the tiny bedroom Ash and I share. I hit the wall with my right arm, wincing a bit as my hand hits the wall hard and painfully. But I can punch. Helmets and faces won't be as hard as a wall, but at least it will hold up.

I keep hitting the wall until my knuckles bleed, and then stop.

“What are you doing?” I turn to Ash.

“Practicing.” I unwrap the bandage on my arm, rip off the bacta patch and look at the scars. They’re dark red and raised a good few centimeters above the skin itself.

“It’s not infected, not yet. But you should keep changing the patches.” Shocks go up my arm as Ash gently takes it and examines the wound. I resist the urge to pull away and let her do her job. She runs her finger along one line, then another. The third, on the outer edge, screams at contact. I yell and pull back.

“Sorry!”  Ash’s eyes go wide and apologetic. She didn’t mean to hurt me, I tell myself.

She lets go and takes a step back.

“I think the third scratch is twisted deep in to the right, as the claw was bending around your arm. I don’t know if it will heal strange, or if problems will occur, but it might have grazed a vein. Don’t stop putting bacta on it after the other two no longer need it.” I look at Ash. Her eyes show hints of nervousness, possibly worry, but not fear, not yet.

“Kiera’s… in the cockpit. We’ll come out of hyperspace soon. You… wrap yourself up and meet us there.” She leaves, and I’m alone to put bacta on and wrap my arm up.

 


	26. Chapter 26

We fly out of hyperspace over the planet, and fly down into the atmosphere.

We land in the underworld, and go into the darker places. Anya will not leave my side, even when I change shape, so people move away from us as we walk.

 

We find a small weapons dealer like the one on Lias Spon and go in. I search for a bit and find armor, and a grin creeps on my face as I hold up a Phase 1 chest plate with green stripes. I don’t know how my armor got here, nor do I care. It’s mine and I have it back.

I buy my chestplate and arm plates, along with a pair of small pistols.

We find a clothing dealer and I get a shirt that fits, grey pants, and boots. Ash gets a black long-sleeved, high-necked, midriff-baring top that’s been cut to reveal an inordinate amount of cleavage, black pants and high boots. Kiera smirks at us as we walk out, and I put my armor on in an alley.

I find a thick harness-type collar for Anya, and after a bit of fighting, she allows me to put it on her back and hook a chain to it.

 

We practically run back to the ship, and take off after Ash sees some stormtroopers, and I only relax after we fly back into hyperspace.

 


	27. Chapter 27

Kiera Brysin does not talk about whom she is. She’ll tell us that we’re headed to Tatooine, and that we’ll be there soon, but if you ask where she came from, or why she’s helping us, she becomes silent until you change the subject.

She’s dangerous. Without knowledge, she is invisible, and can become what she wants.

 

We fly out of hyperspace over Tatooine. Kiera twists the ship and flies down away from a huge Star Destroyer chasing down a smaller ship.

“Get us out of here!” Ash yells at Kiera. Kiera routes a fast course out and we shoot back into hyperspace.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“Unknown Regions. There’s a planet there that I’ve been to before. Its uninhabited.”

 

Slow strokes. I take the brush and paint the chestplate dark green. Goodbye stripes. I can't use you as camouflage.

I’m almost done, finish this and I’ll be able to blend into forest.

I slide the brush over the sides, wiping out the bright green and dirty white paint and replacing it with dull dark green paint.

 

I hold the armor up, inspecting it. I even did the insides, so that there would no longer be any white. I am now no longer the Admiral that commanded a deadly force. I am not even the woman who stands by the Jedi’s side. I no longer have anything connecting me to the Clone Wars. Even my lightsabers are new. I destroyed my past life, and now I’ll destroy my ties to it.

 

I stand in the cockpit as we circle over a planet. I can't see the ground, there’s a thick wall of clouds enveloping the planet. We fly down into the atmosphere, when something hits the ship. I grab onto Kiera’s chair and my legs slide out from under me. 

A huge rock comes up from nowhere and we barely miss it, and then somehow dodge a sharp one trying to tear the hull out. I get a glimpse of a large brown ship through the fog, but it disappears and Kiera flies the ship downward. She forces the ship down onto a flat place as it appears through the mist.

We slide a few meters then stop, the ship swinging around and skidding to a stop, creaking and swaying.

Ash stands up from the floor, bleeding from her lip.

“What hit us?” she asks.

“I don’t know. A rock, maybe, or a blast from a ship--” Kiera says.

“I thought you said this place was uninhabited.” I tell her.

“I haven’t been here in a while.”

 

I climb out of the ship, my boots hitting the rocky ground hard. Anya leaps out and lands in front of me, tail wagging wildly. Kiera steps out beside me, the hood on her cape up. I turn to Ash as she leans against the wall, hand hooked onto the ledge over the open door.

“This isn’t a good idea.” She says.

“We’ll be fine, Ash. Just, stay with the ship. We’ll send a transmission with our coordinates if we need a fast exit.” I tell her. She frowns.

“I don’t like it. I’m a sniper; I can detect movement. I need to be with you in case something’s out there!” she begs.

“We’ve got Anya. Ash-- I don’t like it either, but we have to find some place to spend the night. The wing’s all torn up, we ain’t flying for a while.”

“I’ll see what I can do for it. Radio me when you find something.” I look at her and then away, I can't look into her bottomless blue eyes.

I walk over to Kiera and Anya and we head off into the fog, down a rocky pathway.

 


	28. Chapter 28

Twist, turn, stop, go back, try again. It’s a maze, an impossible maze, coated in fog and with sheer drop offs and sharp spikes of stone in the walls. Go to the left, get impaled by something that shouldn’t even be able to impale someone. Go to the right, fall to your death, possibly with more sharp rocks at the bottom.

Kiera is a goddess, knowing exactly where to put her feet, when to twist away from the jagged rocks, and when to avoid the cliff edge. Sometimes we hike through alleys with high walls on both sides, mist floating around, twisting everything cruelly and terrifyingly. The stone pillars become trees of death, an empty opening can show a figure, standing there, and then disappear.

Actually two figures appear, multiple times in multiple places. On the tops of cliffs, across wide canyons, and behind every corner, the sound of running feet.

My gut twists and churns in knots, my hands on my lightsabers, ready to slice at air. We’re not alone, someone is watching us head through the mist.

A flash of metal, the rush of a cloak, and I shiver in my armor. I need to invest in long sleeves.

Anya’s quills will not flatten, they stand straight up, along with the fur that’s slowly growing back. Her blue eyes remain wide, her lips remain pulled up to show jagged, crooked, mismatched teeth. She keeps to my side, not wanting to let the five-foot chain ending in a leather-grip handle go taught.

Kiera strides quickly, at home in the secret-keeping mist. Of course she’s at home here, it holds secrets, treasures, danger just like her. The amber eyes belonging to our strange savior meet my own dark green ones. Then they turn away, and I move faster to keep up with the swiftly retreating short green cloak.

 

Something moves behind us, I turn and a figure stands shrouded in mist. A cackle rises through the air and ice runs through my veins. Instinct takes hold of my body, and my hand drops the chain, my legs kick against the rocky ground, and I take off flying. My senses tell me when to duck and dodge rock, and when the cliff is to close to my feet. I run away from the threat, and away from my companions.

I slow down at the base of a larger cliff, rising high into the clouds, the sides peppered with holes. I smell sulfur.

In an instant it hits me: this was a volcanic planet. Lava carved the paths in rock, and here is the entrance to an underground volcano. I look up, and can see carvings dimly in the fog. Maybe this was a temple, but how did people live here? Maybe they lived on boats or something, or maybe they traveled here. I walk along the side of the cliff, searching for an entrance. Then I see a relief of two women holding fire in their hands beside a door. Must be the entrance.

 


	29. Chapter 29

I step inside, a blast of sulfur and human stench filling the air. I walk farther down, and my nose begins picking up other scents. Blood and urine. I turn a corner, and stand in the entryway of a large cavernous chamber. Stone benches are carved in the walls and floor, and statues of goddesses holding fire, skulls and strange objects I think are organs circle the room.

I back away and keep going. I head down a small incline, and the hall gets warmer, and statues line the walls holding gory objects I don’t want to know about. I move faster and then freeze. I heard something echo through the cavern. It sounded human, but faint. I step forward, and hear it again. It’s human, and I think it’s a scream.

I walk farther, and stop again. There’s something wedged under a rock in the wall. I bend down and pull it out, turning it over in my hands. It’s a helmet, a clone’s Phase I helmet. Another scream rips through the stale air. A clone’s down here. There was a boxy ship in the air. My squad. Ahsoka Tano. They’re here. We need to get out. Now.

Who’s screaming? I keep moving forward. I need to know who it is before I abandon someone to death. There’s light coming in through a chamber entryway. I can hear low bubbling from farther down the cavern hall, and its incredibly hot down here. 

I press my body to the wall and look around the rock into the room. More statues of demon women holding innards. Are those intestines one’s holding? I rip my eyes away from the strange carvings and over to the center. A stone table with rusted chains. Sacrifice. Someone’s thrashing around on the table, yelling curses and begging for his life. 

A woman appears from the other end. She’s tall and has silver Mando armor, and has a rod hanging from her hip. A shock of short white hair sticks out from a gaunt face, and I think her eyes are glowing.

I lean away as her voice echoes through the cavern, her words indistinguishable. The person on the table yells at her and metal meets flesh. I need to find somewhere better to see. I look around the hall. No other entrances. Then I look up. A hole in the wall, near the roof. I climb up into it and find a whole passage going around the room, with stalagmites or something casting shadows along it. I crawl along it until I’m right in front of the table.

“I’m not going to ask you again. Where is the Jedi?” the woman bends over whoever it is, getting her face in his.

“I already told you. Tano’s gone, you’ll never find her!” he cries out in pain as the woman smacks him.

“Little. Clone. You’re all alone then? Aren’t you…scared? After all, if they're gone…then there’s no one to come for you. No one knows where you are.”

I notice for the first time the figure in the corner, in floor-length black robes and a hood obscuring his face.

“Vren.” The woman calls, and the figure comes over. “I’m being generous, clone. Where’s the Jedi?” I hear a knife coming out and the clone lets out a weird gasp-cry mix.

“I told you! The Jedi’s gone! She went on the ship! I don’t know where she is!” I can hear his head thud against the stone.

“Give me an estimate!”

“Near the atmosphere. On this side. They can't see a thing in this fog--”

“We’ve been all over, and our scanners show nothing!” the woman screams.

“You shot down a ship.” He says.

“Not the box you came in.” I see the knife now, a good long thing, encrusted with blood. The woman moves to the other side and in an instant I know who the man is. Bald head, armor with green forearm plate. Lemon.

“Little. Clone. You’ll tell us where this ship is.”

“Maybe its lower, I don’t--”

“Our scanners show nothing. Now, I’d assume the radar is having trouble because of the fog, but it is the most powerful equipment the Empire can buy.”

I take my lightsaber off my belt and move forward.

“Are you going to tell us what we want to know?” the woman strokes Lemon’s face with her knife.

“If they’re not here then they’re in space. They’re probably on the other side of the galaxy by now!”

“Of course. Which means they left you. Abandoned you. How do you like them now? They abandoned you to me to save their own skins. What does that say about them? Hm?” the woman leans over Lemon, the knife near his face.

“I’m a clone. I’m expendable.” I can hear him say in a hoarse whisper. He’s shaking, and it’s not because of the temperature.

“That’s right. Which means no one will mourn you once you're gone. Fitting. The unknown death of an unknown face…”

She lifts the knife. Lemon’s going to die.

“No!” I scream, and slice open a hole in the stalac-things. I jump out and spin my orange lightsaber, and my other one turns blood red. I flip my lips back to bare my teeth like Anya does.

“Hello, little girl. So glad you could join us. The woman pulls her dagger out of Lemon’s face. She must have started when I jumped out.

“Let him go.” I tell her.

“Mm, no. Tempting, but no.”

“Get back.” I walk toward her, pointing both my blades at her. She laughs a little and picks the knife up, walking around the table toward me.

In an instant I pick her up with the Force, throw her through the doorway, grab the other and throw him too. I grab a stalagmite and knock it into the archway, crumbling it, and blocking the door.

I run over to Lemon. He’s unconscious but alive. Good. I look at his face. The knife didn’t go too deep, but his left eye is carved in two. I cut the rusted clamps and pick him up. He’s light.

I turn, facing the other entrance and run. I swing Lemon over both of my shoulders, and put my lightsabers back on my belt.

I hurtle out of the room and up a hall. Go up, it will lead you out. Simple logic.

I run through a new maze of twists and turns, when I smell fresh air. I run toward it, an actual breeze hitting my face. Oxygen never smelled so good.

I burst out of the tunnel, onto the rocks outside. I look around. The fog still covers most of the world, but I see something coming out of a canyon. I put Lemon down and take one of my lightsabers, ready to attack. The figure comes closer, and then I can see what it is. Anya.

She meows and races toward me, the chain rattling along the ground. I put my lightsaber back and bend down to pet her.

“Miirraa!” Kiera runs out of the fog as well. “Where were you?”

“In the caverns.” I look behind me.

“Who is that?” Anya stops wiggling and bounds over to Lemon, sniffing his face.

“He’s a clone. His name’s Lemon. He was in my squad.” I stand up and look at him.

“Come on, we have to go. Grab him!” I pick Lemon up again and follow Kiera into the fog. I can hear Anya’s chain rattling behind me.

“Kiera, grab Anya’s chain, will you? There are people who might kill us here.” I whisper.

“That can't be her, Miirraa. I’m holding her chain.” I stop as we come out of a ravine and into a large open area surrounded by high cliff walls. I turn around and back toward Kiera.

“We’re not alone…” I mutter. I can se Anya, her quills are straight up and her teeth are bared.

Someone laughs, and I hear footsteps up on top of the cliff. I look up and the woman’s staring straight back at me.

 


	30. Chapter 30

I put Lemon down and activate my lightsabers. At the same time I hear an explosion, and through the mist I can see a fireball climbing up into the sky. The ship. Ash.

“No…” I whisper. I look back at the woman. She smiles and takes a rod from her side. She leaps down in the entrance to the ravine we just came through and spins the rod. A red blade comes out one end and reflects red light against her silver Mando armor.

“Kiera, run. Now.” I say. Kiera grabs Lemon and runs off. Anya bumps my leg and looks at me. “Go.” I whisper, looking at her. She growls and bares her teeth at the woman, but turns around and runs into the fog.

“Ready to die, girl?” the woman asks me.

“Not yet.” I say, and spin my lightsabers, pointing them both at the woman. She lets out a shrill laugh and jumps at me, swinging her lightsaber around to cleave me in half. I block it, spin and block high as she brings the blade down towards my head.

I push the red blade down and towards her, slowly pushing her backward. She growls--an actual growl, feral and cruel--and Force pushes me away. 

I fly backward and hit the rock, my legs flying out from under me. I turn my head and see Lemon’s brown eye staring at me dully. I look back and the woman flies at me, her lightsaber spinning. 

The rod has two openings on it…

A blur of green, yellow and black jumps in front of me, and Kiera lands, blocking the woman. Somehow the Sith crazy flies backward a good three meters, and looks at Kiera.

The woman deactivates her lightsaber, screams, and unleashes a mass of blue Force lightning from her fingers.

“Kiera, run!” I try to find my feet but Kiera doesn’t budge. The lightning hits her and she blocks it, holds it, and throws it back at the woman. I stand up with my lightsabers in my hands and look at Kiera. She ignores me and rips the lightning away from the woman, throwing it into the side of a cliff. I can see the woman’s friend Vren in the shadows.

The woman grins and picks her rod back up again.

“Two Jedi…this will be good.” One blade comes out, and then a second from the other end. She spins in and braces herself. I activate my lightsabers and swing them in a circle a few times. Kiera opens her palms and lightning floats up from her fingertips.

I charge the woman, swinging my lightsabers at her, dodging her fast attacks. This is like whenever I dueled Sen, only he wasn’t trying to actually kill me. Same concept though.

I duck as her blades go for my head, and then block as she swings at my legs. One blade of mine for each of hers. If I can block both Kiera can get a good vantage point. I can see her stalking around the edges, following the woman’s back.

I hook one of her blades with mine and bring it up and around, and catch the other blade with my other one. I can hear the zap of electricity and the woman goes stiff, her mouth flying wide open as she gasps for air, her eyes bugging out. 

Are lightsabers conductors? I have no idea. I hope not, because I think Kiera’s playing to kill.

There’s movement in the shadows and I can see the cloaked person or droid or whatever it is near Lemon.

“No you don’t!” I scream and leap at it, my blades spinning. The one I made goes red and I stab at the thing, pushing him around and away from Lemon. I bare my teeth and spin my blades again, waiting for him to make a move.

“Miirraa!” I turn and see Kiera backing up, throwing lightning at the woman, but the crazy just blocks it with her lightsaber. 

I run at her, swinging my blade to behead her, but the woman spins and grabs me in a Force choke. My hands go to my throat and my lightsabers hit the ground. I can feel my feet leave the ground and I wriggle around, trying to get out of her grip. I can't focus; my vision’s blurring and going dark. Kiera’s flailing around but is slowing down as well.

I close my eyes, and stop fighting death. I can see my mother coming for me, her hand outstretched.

A shot echoes all around the crater and oxygen floods my system as I fall to the ground hard, hitting my good arm and crushing it under my side. I look up and see a scorch mark in the woman’s chestplate, still smoking. I turn and look at another entrance into the crater. A Twi’lek’s form is outlined in the fog, and I hear a nexu roar.

“Hands up, Sith!” I hear a familiar voice. Ash. She steps toward the Sith, and I try to scream at her to run, but all that comes out is a strained gargling noise. I begin trying to feel for my lightsabers, but I’m still dizzy. The Sith looms up over me, lightsaber raised, but a huge nexu slams into her, knocking the woman down. I force myself to get up. I see my lightsabers a few feet away, and I crawl towards them.

I hear a scream behind me, and grab my lightsabers. I roll onto my back and block the woman’s blade. I brace my elbows against the stone as she tries to press my blades against my neck.

Force push. I grab at it and flick my fingers.

She flies backward, up and across a good part of the gorge. I jump up and spin my lightsabers.

“Kiera! Take her down! Ash, aim for her head!” I scream. The Sith charges me again and I raise my blades to block her. I hear electricity and the Sith falls to the ground. Kiera stands near her, hands held high, blue lightning flying out.

“Vren! Attack them! Kill them now!” the Sith screams at the figure. He doesn’t move, just stands there watching.

The temperature drops and I watch as mist slides in. Our blades glow as the fog shrouds everything, making it hard to see. I lift my blades and block as the Sith brings her blades around to slice into me. She swings again, but then she’s gone.


	31. Chapter 31

I look up and around, but there is no lightsaber hum besides mine. Then I hear a whirring and a green bolt blows up the ground beside me. I yelp and jump away, and then I see the outline of a box. The ship. I deactivate my lightsabers and run to the other side of the crater, trying to hide in the fog.

“Miirraa, what are you doing? Where are you?” I hear Kiera ask.

“It’s them. The Jedi I was with. You have to run, they’re going to kill me.” I order.

“No way. We’re coming with you, Miirraa!” Ash says.

“We need to hide. Follow me.” Kiera says, and I hear her boots hitting the stone. I pick Lemon up and follow the sound into a canyon and stop when I see her. She turns to me and I look over, watching as Ash and Anya run up.

“We need a ship. Now.” I say.

“I know that. But the one we came in on is the only one I know of.” She replies. I look over and Anya as she snarls and bristles. The cloaked figure walks up to us and stops in front of Kiera. I grip my lightsaber hilt and get ready to stab him. He pulls his hood down and kneels in front of Kiera. She takes a step back, arm raised in defense.

He looks up and shakes his head. He’s pale, bald and thin. He looks like a clone. Maybe he’s a defective clone.

“Who are you?” Kiera asks. He looks blank, and bows his head, mouthing words. “Can you talk?” he shakes his head.

“You’re Vren, right?” he looks up to me and nods vigorously, smiling.

“Why are you here?” Kiera asks. His smile disappears and he looks back down.

“Here--write it down.” Ash pulls out a datapad from one of the pouches on her belt and hands it to him. He looks confused for a moment, but then begins writing, then hands it to me.

‘I wish to help you three against my Sith mistress. I wish to join you as your servant, but can only do so if she is dead. I will help you kill her if you allow me to remain on the ship. Please do not leave me to her.’

I hand the datapad to Kiera, who hands it to Ash.

“You have a ship?” Kiera asks. He nods, looking up at her. “Can you fly it?” he nods again, a look of pride coming onto his face. “Does it have medical equipment?” he nods vigorously, and gestures to the datapad. He begins writing on it again.

‘It is fast, I can fly it well, and there is a good amount of medical supplies onboard. I can be a doctor as well.’

We read it again, and Ash just hands it back to him.

“Keep it. You’ll need it.” Ash tells him. He goes down face first on the stone, bowing to her. She looks at me confused and nervous, and I shrug. I don’t know how to deal with people like this.

“Up. Where’s your ship?” Kiera asks him. He scrambles to his feet, taking the datapad. He runs off into the fog a short ways, and then comes back, beckoning for us to follow him. We do so, and I hear the loud rumble of the ship overhead as we climb through thin canyon gorges. 

He takes us around a corner and stops, standing in another crater in front of a thin, dull grey ship. Its wings are small and folded close to the main body. Twin engines stick out a ways on the back, and I think they’re fairly powerful. He runs over to the side of the ship and jumps up and down. He pulls his sleeve back and pushes a button, and a hole opens up in the side, extending into a ramp up.

“This ship’s built for speed and silence. I think we can get off-world fairly easily.” Kiera says. She then looks up and lets out a yelp. I look up and see the Sith, her lightsaber activated, standing on a rock sticking high in the air.

“He needs us to kill her.” I say.

“Miirraa, wait--” I don’t listen and jump after her. The Sith leaps through the fog onto another rock, then into the air. I follow, becoming a jango-jumper again. I see the side of the ship swing down out of the fog, hitting a rock spire, knocking it down. I crouch down on my rock, looking around for her. She’s gone.

I hear a deep hum, and then look up as she flies out of the mist. I bring my blades up, blocking and being forced backward. My back hits the ground and she presses her blades closer and closer to my neck. I then swing upward with my leg and hit her in the back. She falls forward and down off the rock. I jump up and blindly leap away. I can hear her screaming after me.

I land and freeze. I’m on the front window of the ship. I can see Rex in front of me, and the squad behind him. I look up and can see the red outline of a lightsaber. I jump away as I hear the Sith hit the window behind me, and I land on the top of the ship. Now I’m glad it’s a flying box. 

I go into a crouch and bring my lightsabers around in front of me, turning around. She flies up and onto the top of the ship, spinning her lightsabers around in front of her. She walks toward me and then breaks into a run, swinging her blades to cut me in half. I raise my lightsabers to block. She hits them, but brings her other blade around. I move one of my blades and block that one, and look at her.

“Clever girl. But you won't get out of this one.” she smirks.

“You’d be surprised.” I reply; and bring my foot up, brace it against her stomach and push her away. She staggers backwards just as the ship rumbles and begins to move. It rolls over slowly, and I run up its side, gripping the edge and swinging myself over.

I land in a crouch, watching as she slides the other way. I look over to where the engines are, and they fire up and begin to throw the ship forward. The Sith lets out a scream and falls off the side, disappearing into the fog.

With a screech the ship rolls back upright and I run back onto the top.

“Come on, Kiera, where are you?” I mutter. I hear a lightsaber activate behind me and I turn. A shadow moves in the fog toward me, two purple glowing blades at its side.

Sen. I bring my lightsabers up as he charges me. He hits his blades with mine with so much force that I stagger back.

“Sen, I don’t want t fight you!” I shout. He snarls and hits my lightsabers hard repeatedly, spinning his hilt around in circles.

“But I want to fight you!” he growls. He swings his blades again, forcing me backward.

I hear another scream, and the Sith flies at us again. She lands, swinging at both of us. Sen blocks behind him and I jump backward. We form a strange triangle, each of us keeping an eye on the other two. Those two want to kill both each other, and me and I need to kill the Sith and defend against the Jedi.

Sen makes the first move. He leaps at the Sith, but in a flash she goes under him and carves out his middle. She kicks him to the side of the ship and Sen falls, screaming.

“No!” I shout, reaching for him. The screams fade. He’s gone. I breath hard, looking back at the Sith, who sits on one hip, smirking. Her lightsaber hangs from her hand limply. She does not believe I can hurt her.

She’s wrong.

Instead of attacking, I grab her in a Force choke. She struggles and the lightsaber falls to the floor. She looks at me and smiles.

“Going… to kill… me? Good… girl…” she grunts. I close my eyes and throw her across the roof. She skids like a stone and stops at the edge. The Sith stands up and pulls her lightsaber to her, then Force pushes me off the side.

 


	32. Chapter 32

Pure weightlessness. Why do I keep falling off of things? That is the thought in my head as I fall again. Then I see a pole. I grab it, and the rest of my body swings down underneath me, trying to dislocate my shoulders. There aren’t any poles on the ship, so why…

But there are turrets.

My eyes widen and I turn to my left slowly. Blast is sitting right there, hands on the trigger. His eyes narrow and his hands clench the controls tighter.

Then of course it rains Sith.

She lands on top of the gun, making it bounce. She looks down at me and grins.

“I am going to make your death very amusing, and very painful. How about I cut off your fingers?” she asks.

“Not much of an option there.” I mutter, staring straight at the pole. Her lightsaber activates, and I look back up.

Then the turret swings up with a whirr. The Sith swings wildly to catch her balance, but I hug the bar and close my eyes.

The whole world seems to fly around in a strange circle. I feel my body plummeting through the air, back and forth, then up hard, and then down as far as the turret will allow. I open my eyes and watch almost upside down as the Sith falls off and into the fog. 

The turret comes back up and I look at Blast. He frowns and holds up his hand, five fingers outstretched. Then he folds his thumb in. Four seconds. I nod to him, climb on top of the turret, and then jump up onto the roof again.

Where’s Kiera? I think as I look around. Then I see a glint of silver and the ship swings around overhead silently. I grin as a door on the side opens up and Kiera waves to me. Then she stops and points behind me. I hear a hum again and I duck.

“Not you.” I say.

“Oh yes it is me. And I don’t die.” The Sith swings her blade again as soon as I turn, but then freezes, her mouth opening in a scream, as an orange blade comes out of her neck. The blade disappears and she falls. Kiera stands behind her, holding my lightsaber hilt.

“Uh, here.” She says, handing it to me quickly.

“Thanks.” I say quietly.

“We need to get out of here. Fast.” Kiera tells me. I nod and turn to go.

“Coming?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Kiera picks up the Sith’s rod and walks over to the ship. I look back at the Sith, then use the Force and throw her body off the side. Then I turn away and run to the ship.

 


	33. Chapter 33

The inside is dark grey, but clean. Beeps and whirrs are heard from the cockpit, and the whole thing is sleek and streamlined. The small room full of medical equipment is the only place painted white. It’s silent in there, except for Vren working on Lemon’s face. There are two rooms for sleeping, both small, but I’m sure three women and a nexu can fit in one. There’s a tiny galley, but it has food, which is enough. And the cockpit is large, with a slanted roof made of glass, and a large control panel for flying the thing. There’s another panel on one side for navigation and scanning, and on the other, a panel for the weapons, two turrets and bombs under the wings.

I march into the cockpit and grab Kiera, spin her around and push her against the wall. Ash gets up to leave but I grab her arm.

“We’re all going to have a talk. It’s time we stopped keeping secrets and told each other who we really are.” I order, and then look at Kiera. “You first.” She sighs and closes her eyes.

“My name is Kiera Brysin. I was taken by the Empire to learn the dark side, and to serve the Empire. But my eyes were opened and I saw how wrong the Empire was. How evil it was. So I ran. I escaped from them and ran. Somehow I ended up on Lias Spon, and watched someone fight for days. I watched you.” She looks at me with amber eyes. Sith eyes.

“You’re Sith.” I say. She nods and grabs my arm when I step backward.

“I am a Sith. But I am trying to fight it. I know you have animosity towards them, but trust me when I say this: I have abandoned the Empire. I have no loyalty to them any more. I will not turn you in to them.” She pleads with me. I don’t want to trust a Sith so easily, but she’s saved us twice already.

“I’ll see if I can trust you.” I say to her. She smiles gratefully and lets me go. “And you.” I turn to Ash. “Who are you exactly? You’ve given me different stories and I don’t know what to believe.” She sighs.

“I’m Ash Leman. I was born on Ryloth, but my mother left, and I went with her. She split my name, and that’s what I grew up with. I lived on Lias Spon until I left three years ago. I became an assassin, and was pretty good at it. Until I got caught trying to snipe an Imperial commander. They didn’t kill me because I had a pretty good history with them, taking out a few targets. Then I met you.” Ash looks at me.

“Why did we get arrested then?” I ask.

“I said that my career began on Lias Spon. My first target was the then-governor of the planet. I killed him and Ronez paid me well. He tried to court me, but I turned him down. Multiple times. He eventually got fed up and ordered my arrest. So I ran. When we came back, he decided to hurt me by sending you out to fight. That and rid the Empire of a threat.” She snickered. “Only one worked, and now he’s dead.” I nod and cross my arms.

“And what about you, Miirraa? We’ve seen your face. How could a respected Admiral fall to being a rogue assassin?” Kiera asks. I frown.

“How much do you want to know?” I ask.

“As much as you can tell.” Ash says. I take a deep breath.

“I, as you know, am Miirraa Tensraka. I was born on Rassas before the Clone Wars, and during them, the Separatists attacked my planet. The Republic fought them off, and I snuck in a year later.” I say. “I became a clone and ended up being promoted. As I’m sure you know, I fought a lot in the war. Then Order 66 came, and I ran. I chose to go with the Jedi I served under rather than help destroy what was left of them. I went into hiding for years but I came out and have been fighting the Empire ever since.” I lift my head, watching them.

“So, Admiral Tensraka--” Kiera starts.

“Don’t call me that.” I tell her.

“Why not? You called yourself that in the arena.” She asks.

“That was to scare them. I don’t want to be known as that any more.” Kiera opens her mouth to ask again, but I glare at her, making her mouth shut again.

“And now we’ve switched ships again. Except now we’re with a mute who we know nothing about.” Ash says.

“We could say the same about joining Kiera.” I say, and Kiera smirks.

I jump as someone taps me on the shoulder, and I turn to Vren. He hands me the datapad.

‘He is stable. The knife only grazed his eye, but it will never see again. He is asleep; I put him under heavy sedation. He will not trust me when he wakes up, so I assume you will care for him?’

I shake my head.

“I cannot be seen by him.” I tell Vren. He looks confused, and then bows his head and back away.

“Why? Who is he, and why were you protecting him?” Ash asks.

“He was a member of my squad.” I say quietly. “But I betrayed them.”

“You’re a Changeling, though.” I jerk my head up as Kiera says this. 

“I don’t want to risk it. Ash, can you fix him?” I ask. She nods. Vren takes the datapad back and types furiously on it, and then hands it to Ash.

“Just one question.” She looks at me. “What happens when he’s healed?” I close my eyes as she leaves the cockpit.

 


	34. Chapter 34

Apparently Lemon has been awake for a few days now. He’s unresponsive to conversation, physical contact and Ash’s work on stitching the area around his eye.

“Go in there, will you? Maybe as yourself? He’s just been sitting there and maybe you can scare him out of it.”

“No. I can’t go in there.” Ash opens her mouth to protest. “I said no! I’m no doctor, and I’m not going to go in there!” I leave the cockpit quickly and walk into the room I’ve been sleeping in. I lie down and close my eyes.

I can’t go in there. Who knows what would happen. I can’t risk it.

 

I sit up. I’m in my house on Rassas. I get up and go outside. The whole place is covered in thick fog. I walk towards the town along the dirt road. I can feel the soil between my toes and I’m no longer wearing my armor, just the sleeveless shirt and loose pants I used to. I enter the town and look around. It’s empty, but the buildings are whole and there are no blast marks at all. The downed Seppie fighter by the bridge is gone as well. The place looks just like it used to.

I turn as footsteps approach behind me. A young girl walks out of the fog and stops beside me. She doesn’t turn or register my existence at all. She has shaggy black hair, tanned skin covered in dust, and from what I can see, green eyes.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she says. I know that voice. It’s my voice. But how can I be there as my younger self? “Don’t think too hard. This is all in your head.” She still does not move, besides her lips and jaw forming the words.

“Why am I here?” I ask.

“Why are you here? Why do you keep dreaming of the Imperial who took everything from you? You have a chance to fix it, Miirraa, if at least in a small part. Don’t you want to try and fix what you broke?” She-- I-- frown and keep staring straight ahead.

“What if he does wake up? He could attack me and everyone else onboard.” I say.

“Then he attacks. But think on this. If you’re captured, and he’s still out of it, what happens then? The Empire isn’t known for its delicacy. They would completely destroy his mind. And then he would be beyond saving.” She finally does look at me, and her eyes are hard and angry.

“Fix it, Miirraa.” She says, and then the world caves in on itself, sending me backwards into darkness.

I sit up, smacking my head on the top of the alcove I’m lying in. I lie back down, rubbing my forehead, then get up and go back to the cockpit.

“Fine.” I say as Ash turns to me. “Come with me.”

 

I stand in front of the door and take a deep breath, let it out, and open the door. I step inside and look over at Lemon. He’s sitting on the bed facing the door. His good eye is kind of glassy and dull, and his other is covered in a bacta pack and gauze holding it to his face.

“How am I supposed to snap him out of this?” I ask her quietly.

“I don’t know. Walk up to him and start talking.” She shrugs. “I have knowledge of how to treat wounds, not how to fix the brain!” I shake my head and walk slowly up to Lemon.

“Uh… Lemon? You in there?” I ask hesitantly. He just stares. Is he in shock? “Hey, you need to get up. It’s… it’s not healthy, just… sitting there.” His good eye moves up to meet mine. No fear or anger, or any emotion at all registers on his face. I bite my lip then stop walking in front of him.

“Sourpuss, you need to get up, and you’re going to do it now!” I order. He closes his eye and lowers his head. I look back at Ash.

“That’s the most movement I’ve seen him make.” She frowns. I kneel down in front of him and grip his chin.

“Lemon, look at me.” he slowly complies. “Remember me?” he blinks slowly. “I know you do. And I know that when you come out of this, you'll probably try to kill me. But until then… I’m going to do my best to help you.” I stand up, letting go of him. He looks up at me, and for a moment I think I see a ghost of a smile. But then it’s gone, and his face is a blank mask again.

I turn away and leave the room, Ash following me.

 

“Hey, Lemon…” I walk in quietly. He barely responds besides a glance in my direction. “We’ll be coming out of hyperspace soon.” He blinks. “Apparently we’ll be over Naboo. If we land, do you want anything?” No response. I didn’t really expect one, but I secretly hope he’ll look up and make a sarcastic remark like he normally would.

“What happened there?” I whisper. He turns and looks at me. “What did the Sith do?” he shakes his head and then lies down.

 

“Vren, come with me. I need you to get in his line of sight. Maybe that will snap him out of it.” I say. Vren nods and follows me into the room. Lemon looks up at me as I enter, then over at Vren. Lemon’s face contorts for a second, and then smoothes back out. I shake my head and walk over to Lemon. He looks at me, and then rolls over onto his side.

“That’s the most movement we’ve gotten out of him. Can you figure out why he’s like this?” I ask. Vren nods and walks over to Lemon.

 

I watch as Kiera flies the ship down to Naboo. We land by a small town and she stands, pulling the hood of her cloak over her head. I shift into a black-eyed redhead and follow her.

We walk into the town, keeping our heads low. The place is crawling with stormtroopers, and very few civilians are on the street. I keep a lookout while Kiera buys some food and more medical supplies.

“Going on a trip?” the cashier, a pale Human, asks.

“You could say that.” Kiera replies, handing him the money. He shrugs and she takes the supplies, walking out of the shop in front of me. I hike the bag slung over my shoulder higher up my back and follow her.

When we get back to the ship I drop the bag on the floor in front of Ash, then walk into the small room we’ve been sleeping in. Anya looks up at me and chirps, then gets off my bed and rubs up against me. I pull the quills that dig into my leg out, and then lie down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Anya shoves her face into mine, and meows loudly. I look over at her and she grins, showing off all her teeth.

“I want to sleep, Anya.” I tell her. She closes her mouth and lies down next to the bed. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

 

I open my eyes and look around. I’m in one of the floating cities on Kamino. I walk down the halls, looking around. It’s completely empty. I turn a corner and see a clone with his back to me, watching the rain outside a window. I approach him and he turns. Lemon. His eyes widen for a minute in fear, but then he runs toward me, hugging me. I freeze in place, stiffening until he lets go.

“You’re here?” he asks. I nod.

“What happened?” I ask. His face contorts into a look of terror and backs away, shaking his head.

“No… no, it’s nothing… nothing happened.” He says quickly.

“Lemon…” he turns and runs, and suddenly I’m flung backwards into darkness.

 


	35. Chapter 35

I wake up to Anya breathing in my face.

“Move, cat. You smell like the arena.” I tell her. She growls and walks to the other side of the room. I get up and go into where Lemon is.

He looks up at me blankly from where he’s lying on the bed.

“Listen, I was on Kamino, and I saw you. I asked you about the planet, and you ran. I need you to tell me what happened, and how to fix the damage.” I tell him. He looks down at the floor, then at the far wall.

I sigh and leave the room.

 

“Lemon…” I say. He looks over at me from the window. He frowns for a moment, and then grins.

“Come here, I want to show you something.” He says. I nod and follow. He walks into another hallway overlooking where the clones were grown.

“What about it?” I ask.

“Did you see it when you were here?” I shake my head. “Well, now you have. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” he looks up, grinning.

“Listen, about the planet--”

“What about it? Oh, you want to know what happened, right? Nothing happened. Now, come on, I wanna try out the training room again.” he runs off, and I slap my forehead as I am flung backward again into darkness.

 

How do you break through to someone who wants to avoid the problem? I pace the room as Anya watches me from the bed. How do you get through to someone that they need to face the problem? I don’t know. I have no idea how people’s brains work, or how to make them work. I need to break through to Lemon.

 

Twenty dreams in and out, and I’ve done every possible thing that came to mind. Threats, persuasion, coercion, and playing along until I dropped the bomb. Every time he blew me off. Every time he ran off. Every damn time I flew backward with an even larger sense of failure. How do you get through to someone who keeps shutting down? Power them back up, is the simple answer. But doing so is the difficult bit. Somehow I need to get through to him.

 

I walk over to Lemon again. This time he’s in the mess, looking around at the empty tables.

“Hey.” I say.

“You’re here again?” he asks.

“Look, if I could choose a different place I would, believe me. And you're still here, too.” I point out. He shrugs.

“This is my home.” He says, and turns to go. I grab his arm tightly and he looks shocked.

“Talk to me. Please?” I point to a table and he reluctantly nods. I let him go and he sits. I sit across from him, my back to the door.

“So… what do you want to talk about?” he asks.

“Tell me something. Why are you here? I know it’s your home, but I remember it being… busier.” He looks at the table.

“I dunno. I woke up here.” He says. I nod.

“You do realize that your body is on our ship, right? It’s still functioning, but it doesn’t talk, barely reacts to anything, and just lies on a bed all day.” Lemon frowns and looks back up at me.

“My body… is just sitting there?” he looks confused.

“Yup.” I mess with my gauntlet. “Kind of boring, actually. Believe it or not, I kind of miss you wandering around, mouthing off to everyone and everything.” He smirks.

“So I’m on Kamino, while my body’s in your ship.” I nod. “I’ve been hearing voices off and on, mostly about needles and pain.”

“Probably Ash. She’s been trying to fix you.”

“So… I’m stuck here?” I nod. He puts his chin in his hand. “How do I get out?”

“I think your mind tried to completely shut down and stop processing things when you were on that planet.” He looks startled. “I think… your mind tried to protect itself by closing down to try and block out the pain. But it didn’t fully shut down, or ever turn back on.” He frowns and I grip his wrist.

“Lemon, I need you to be incredibly strong and brave. You’re a good soldier, so I think you can. I need you to tell me what happened.” His eyes widen and he tries to pull back, but I don’t let go. “Please, Lemon. Talk to me. I miss you.” he closes his eyes and purses his lips, then bares his teeth.

“I… I was with General Tano on that rock, when… when the Sith came out of nowhere. She dueled Tano and… cut off one of her montrals. Then she turned on me, but… instead of killing me she knocked me out and… when I woke up she was talking about sacrifice, and an Emperor…” he shakes his head and I stand, letting go of him and walking around the table. I sit next to him and carefully put my arms around him. My eyes widen as he then leans into me, curling even tighter in on himself. That woman destroyed him.

“I… was on a table, and there was a knife… and she hit my eye, but… then I… then I saw you. You carried me out, didn’t you? And you fought her… and then I was in a ship, and went to sleep, and woke up here.” He looks up at me.

“Why don’t you hate me, Lemon? I tried to kill you? Why didn’t you run like a normal person would have?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I was alone for so long here, and then I had someone with me… and you saved me. But why did you attack in the first place, Miirraa? Why? After all we’d been through, how could you betray us?” he asks me.

“It’s my turn to face the truth I guess.” I mutter, and then take a deep breath. “Remember when we were taken prisoner, all of Jet Squad was, by the Imperials?” he nods. “There was a scientist who did tests and put so many different chemicals into me. He… he was creating a weapon. The chemicals… would make it so that I could be ordered around by anyone, make me so much stronger and angrier… and then he turned it on when I attacked you. I didn’t want to, Lemon, the rational side of me didn’t want to! But the battle-hungry maniac won. I died that day. I died and a shadow was born.” I whisper. He looks at me, and then returns the hug.

“You seem to regret it.” he says.

“I do. I regret it every night, when the Imperial comes back to haunt my nightmares. I haven’t slept well in weeks, Lemon.” I close my eyes tightly and hug him even tighter.

“I don’t want to trust you.” he mutters.

“I’d think you a fool if you did.” I reply.

“But I want to give you a chance to fight it.” he says. “A chance to fight what the Empire tried to create.”

“I want to fight it, so, so badly.” I whisper. “And I want you by my side, helping me.” I open my eyes and he looks at me.

“All I need to do is figure out how to get back to my body.” He says. I nod.

“I think it’ll work this time.” I say, and let go, standing up. He does so as well, and we walk out of the mess into darkness.

 

I open my eyes and get out of bed. Please be here, please be here, please be here. I chant in my head as I walk into the other room. He’s lying down on the bed, eyes shut.

“Lemon?” I ask. No answer. It didn’t work. I lower my head and turn to go.

“Miirraa?” I look back, and meet Lemon’s brown eye with my green ones.

“You’re back.” I say. He nods and smirks.

“Most likely.”

“You need to get up and meet the people who’re onboard with us.” I tell him. He frowns and sits up.

“Now?” he asks.

“Now.” I reply. He snorts and stands up, wobbling a little.

“I can’t see out my left side.” He says.

“That’s because you don’t have a left eye.” His good eye widens, and then relaxes.

“Great.” He mutters and follows me out.

“Ash, wake up.” I kick her leg and she looks up at me.

“What?” she groans.

“He’s up.” I look over at Lemon. “This is Ash. She’s our sniper. Over there’s Kiera,” I point to the Sith leaning against the wall. “She’s our Force-sensitive.” I look over at Vren. “And that’s Vren. He’s pilot.” He looks up from where he’s sitting on the floor and nods.

“Interesting crew.” Lemon mutters.

“What can he do?” Kiera asks. I glance at her.

“I know every single type of heavy weapon there is, and I can use all of them.” He says, bristling. Kiera nods.

“I don’t like him.” Ash says.

“Who said I wanted you to like me?” Lemon asks, folding his arms. She turns away and messes with the control panel.

“I’m going to keep Anya company.” I say, and I leave the cockpit, walking back to our room where Anya’s being kept.

The nexu rubs up against me purring as I sit down on the bed. I rub her behind her tufts and earn a gentle bite. Then lie down again, staring at the ceiling. Anya lies down beside me and growls softly.

Meditate. Find Ahsoka. Find the Empire.

I close my eyes and let my mind wander.

 

I stand in the box ship, in the room where we keep our medical supplies. Kix helps Ahsoka sit up, taking bandages off of her left montral. Half of it is gone, and the wound healed over. She frowns and stands, thanking Kix and leaving the room. I follow her as she enters the cockpit.

“Rex, where are we?” she asks.

“Over Naboo, sir.” He replies. She nods and stands beside him.

“Could you find Lemon?” she asks, and looks down as Rex shakes his head. “And Sen?”

“We couldn’t find the body. The Sith knocked him off the ship.”

“Is there any better news?”

“We found Miirraa Tensraka. She was on that planet. We’re working on tracking her.” Rex lifts his chin, looking quite pleased.

“Good work, Rex.” She says, and turns to leave the room.

“Where are you going, sir?” he looks concerned.

“To meditate. That could speed up our tracking.” She smiles and leaves.

 

I open my eyes. Anya nuzzles my face and I scratch her head.

“You’re looking better.” I say. She purrs. She does look healthier. Her fur’s growing back, and her bones aren’t as prominent.

I get up and walk back to the cockpit.

“Tano’s tracking us.” I say. Lemon sits up from where he’s working underneath the weapons system, smacking his head loudly.

“How far away?” he asks.

“She was over Naboo.” I tell him. “She’s trying to find us with meditation.”

“Wait, who? Who’s tracking us?” Ash asks.

“Ahsoka Tano, the Jedi I worked under.” I say. She nods.

“If she finds us, you're as good as dead.” Lemon says. “She got really obsessed with finding and killing you.”

“That’s not good. I’m leading you all into something incredibly dangerous. I have to go. Ash, drop me off at the nearest planet. I’ll find a ship there.” I have to get out of here. Now.

“What? No, we’re not leaving.” Ash turns around in her seat.

“You don’t understand. Ahsoka is a Jedi, and she’s got a bunch of battle-hardened clones at her command. You have to leave me behind.”

“No, Miirraa. You don’t understand. We’re in this together. And we’re not letting you go off on your own, if she really is this dangerous.” Kiera says as she walks into the cockpit behind me.

“Lemon? You too?” I ask.

“I feel like I’m choosing the lesser of two evils here. The General’s my superior officer, but she’s beginning to crack. And you, well… you’re a time bomb.” He scratches his head.

“Thanks.” I tell him.

“You’re welcome. But I guess in this instance, the time bomb’s my best bet.” He says.

“You guys really aren’t going to let me run off, are you?” I ask. Ash shakes her head. “You do realize that we won’t be able to stay in one place for any length of time, right?”

“Miirraa. I’m a master at not staying in one place.” Lemon says. I raise my eyebrows. “We’re also on the run from the Empire, and you have to hide from the Rebels as well. Everyone hates you.”

“And by joining me, everyone now hates you.” I tell him. He shrugs.

“That’s kind of normal for me, really.” He says.

“Vren? Are you okay with this?” I ask. He nods from where he’s sitting in the pilot’s seat. “Fine. Set a course for Tatooine. We’ll blend in there for as long as we can.” I tell Vren. He nods and begins setting coordinates.

I lean against the wall as Vren sends us into hyperspace.

 


	36. Chapter 36

I wander into another store, this time getting a pair of baggy pants with a lot of large pockets I can hide my lightsabers in. they’re dark grey camo, with bits of yellow-green in them as well.

As I walk back, I stop by a wall of wanted posters, most of them graffiti over. One, though, is not, hanging on the edge of the wall. It’s of a young man, dark brown eyes stare back at me. The name underneath, in faded Aurebesh, is ‘Galen Marek.’ Some Imperial deserter. There’s a fairly large reward for him, too. I see posters for me as well, and for Ash. There’s a few others, random criminals, but nothing too interesting.

“Good morning, minions.” I say as I walk in. I step on Lemon’s arm as he’s flopped in the middle of the floor like Anya does, and he shouts and pulls it back underneath himself protectively.

“Where’d you go?” Kiera asks.

“Shopping. Found something to hide weapons in.” I tell her, and walk into the refresher to change.

When I walk back out, Ash has come in with a datapad, and looking worried.

“What is it?” Kiera asks.

“There’s troops outside, lots of them. I’m worried they’ve found us.” She says. I walk over to the window and look out. There are a lot of stormtroopers around, but then I see a flash of orange, white and blue that worries me more.

A Togruta stands across the road by a bar. She looks up at me for a fraction of a second and I lean back, then she turns and keeps walking, a helmeted figure by her side.

“Ahsoka’s here.” I whisper, and Lemon comes over.

“Are you sure? It could be any number of Togruta…”

“She’s missing a montral, and has the same markings and clothes Ahsoka wears.” I look at Lemon. “There was someone with her. Did Rex change his armor?” I ask.

“Yeah. They all did, except Jas. The Captain got dirt-coloured armor and a helmet.”

“Then it was them.” I say, leaning against the sill. “What should we do?”

“Lay low? I don’t want to keep running all the time.” Ash says.

“You said you’d stay with me.” I straighten up and turn to her. “You said you wouldn’t leave when I warned you.”

“I just want to be on a planet for a while. A day is all I ask. Tomorrow we can keep moving if we have to.” She says.

“All right. But we’re not just sitting around. we have to get ready to keep running. Got it?” I ask. They all nod. “Vren, if it’s okay with you, we need a new ship.” he looks shocked. “It’s an amazing ship, I know, but we’ve got five people and a nexu sleeping in two rooms built for two or three people. We can find a larger model, right?” I ask. He nods hesitantly. “We can go out today and find one that you like. We can probably steal some money fairly easily.” I lower my voice at this. They all nod.

“I can take Kiera out thieving.” Ash whispers. Kiera nods.

“Good. Lemon, you take Anya and pick up more med supplies and food, along with winter gear. Who knows where we’ll be headed.” He nods.

“Vren, you and I will go down and find a ship. Got it?” I ask. Vren grins and nods vigorously.

We split up and leave the room.

 

I walk over to a landing pad where a Zabrak is selling ships.

“Yeah, I’ve got everything. C’mere, I’ll show you a yacht that I just got in.” he says.

“Actually, we’re looking for something very specific.” He turns and looks at me. “We need something that’ll hold five people, potentially more, and room enough for a medium-sized animal to run around in. Ideally a hold. And it has to have weapons. Got anything?” I ask. He scratches his head.

“I think I may have something like what you’re looking for. Come with me.” he leads us over to a large dark grey ship. “Have a look around, if you like.” He says and lowers the ramp. We walk into the dark ship and Vren turns on the lights. I walk through the narrow hall into a good-sized hold. We could probably launch ships out the back if needed, and if we had any. We can store a good amount here too. I walk back and find two rooms, both could fit four people. There’s a galley, and a small closet we could stick weapons in. There’s also storage under the floor. The cockpit looks all right, I don’t know what most of it does, but Vren seems happy with it.

“Looking good?” I ask he nods. “Think you might want to get it?” he nods again. “And you’re all right with giving up the other one?” he hands me the datapad.

‘It was my home for many years, but I’m glad to be rid of it. it holds bad memories for me, and was too small for us. This one will become my home now.’ I look at him and smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay with it.” I tell him. He shrugs and takes the datapad back, quickly sliding his hand back into the folds of his robes. His hood’s up again, his face in shadow.

We walk back out as the Zabrak comes back.

“Well?” he asks.

“We’ll buy it. how much?” I ask.

“Well, it’s a fast ship, fairly new… I’ll take 5,000 for it.”

“I’ll give you 1,000. It’s old and rusting.” I tell him.

“4,000.” He folds his arms.

“2,000.” I stand up straighter, rolling my shoulders back.

“3,500.”

“Deal.” I tell him. “We’ll be back with the money in two hours.” He nods and we leave.

 

Kiera is quite good at pick pocketing. She’s come back with almost enough, and selling the old ship gets us the rest.

“The ship’s yours.” The Zabrak says and hands me the controls for it. As he leaves I hand them to Vren.

We pack the ship on another landing pad and load it with the supplies. Lemon did amazingly well on finding cheap food, water and some snow gear. Anya loves it and won’t stop running around in circles.

 

 


	37. Chapter 37

I stand in the cockpit as we shoot out over a weird green planet.

“Forests, lakes… this’ll work for now.” Kiera says.

“Name?” I ask.

“No idea. I’ve been here once, there are some old forts and compounds around here.” She shrugs and Vren sends the ship down into the atmosphere. Sure enough, I can see old towers rising from the forest. There are tons of lakes as well, and Vren puts us down on a cliff.

I step out and Kiera runs over to a rock, digging underneath it.

“What are you doing?” I ask. She holds up a muddy box.

“Transmitter set. If one of us needs help and has lost their comlink, we can call on this.” She says. She checks it, smiles, and puts the box back under the rock. “Come on. There’s a fort near here that we can hide in.”

 

We walk down through the forest along a narrow trail. It seems to have been traveled a lot before, and not just by animals. We stop when we hit a fork in the trail.

“Lemon, you and I go this way.” I say, pointing. “Ash, you and Kiera go the other. Vren, take Anya back to the ship and wait. Be back there by 0600 tomorrow. If a group isn’t there, fly off and wait for a transmission.” I say. They nod and we split up.

A ways down I hear movement. I unhook my lightsabers and get ready to activate them. Lemon’s brought his pistol out and is ready to shoot.

An explosion of noise makes us turn. Five armored men point blasters at us. They’re not stormtroopers, they wear the wrong armor. One has brown armor, two others have grey armor, a fourth has his torso and arms covered and regular pants, and the fifth has a full set of Phase I armor.

“I think we found your brothers.” I mutter to Lemon. They say nothing and fire blue bolts. I move to activate my lightsabers, but it’s a stun blast and I fall to the ground, the world going black.

 


	38. Chapter 38

The world flickers into view as I wake up on a cold stone floor. I’m in a small cell, my hands cuffed in front of me. The door opens and I sit up on my knees. I look up to see a Togruta missing a montral. Ahsoka.

“Hello General.” I say. She frowns.

“You don’t look very good.” She says.

“Haven’t slept in a week. You?” I ask.

“None of your business.”

“What do you want, Tano?” I ask.

“A lot of things. The clones are split between wanting your head on a pole and just shooting you.”

“Which side is my squad on?” I ask.

“The pole.” She folds her arms.

“Good for them.” I tell her, leaning back against the wall.

“You’re quite comfortable with this.” She says.

“I’ll get out. You know that.” I shrug.

“Not this time.” She hisses, and leaves.

 

Hours pass. I’m fairly sure we’ve missed our meeting. I have no idea where Lemon is, and no one’s come in. I told them to wait, but they’ll get antsy and most likely come looking. That’s my hope.

 

No one comes to talk. Someone opens the door and throws a ration bar in, but then it’s silent. I spend my time staring back at a camera in the cell with me, hopefully to unnerve some people. It’s dark, and I’ve taken to sitting on a platform they call a bed.

The door opens and I watch as Rex comes in. his face is contorted into a look of pure hate, hand balled into fists.

“So you’re on the ‘I want Tensraka’s head on a pole’ group?” I ask. He says nothing, but puts a fist in my mouth.

“You don’t deserve to live.” He snarls.

“You’re right. Why don’t you end it here?” I ask. He puts his hand on his pistol, then stops, looks at it, looks and me, spits, and leaves. I smirk and lean back into the shadows.

 

The door opens again. Ahsoka’s back.

“Welcome, General, to my spacious castle.” I spread my arms wide from my seat in the shadows. She glares and throws out a hand. I wait for my throat to constrict, but it doesn’t. She looks upset, and I know I’ve failed in her eyes.

“You're insane.” She whispers.

“I know.” I tell her calmly. She shakes her head and leaves.

 

“What do you want, General?” I ask. She drops a ration bar in front of me. “Aw, you’re so sweet. Tell me, are we killing me or what?” I ask.

“Shut up.”

“Well aren’t you nice. When’s my execution?”

“Shut up.”

“Come on, General, you must know something.”

“I said--”

“How’d you lose your montral? I was on that rock, dueled that Sith, and the only thing I lost was Lemon’s eye--” I’m suddenly pinned to the wall, a lightsaber hilt against my forehead.

“How dare you talk like that? Because of you, Lemon will never see everything again--”

“He seems to be doing pretty well.”

“Why was he with you?” Ahsoka hisses. She’s livid and her eyes are narrowed.

“Because I got him off that rock! Why didn’t you go after him?” I snarl.

“We did! We looked everywhere!”

“Well obviously not in that temple he was in.”

“What temple?” she asks.

“I dunno. Some old thing, tons of statues holding internal organs.” I tell her.

“Why should I believe you?”

“You shouldn’t. But you could ask Lemon.” I say.

“He’s gone.” She says. I look startled. “He disappeared last night.”

“Oh.” I’m confused now, and I think she sees it.

“Yeah.”

“You should believe me, then. After all, I am the only one here.” She glares.

“Don’t make me activate this.”

“I’d like to see you try.” I tell her. She grips the hilt tighter, thumb going to the button…

 

And she pulls away, putting it back on her belt.

“You win.” She hisses, turning and walking away.

 

“Up.” I raise my eyebrows. Kink and Denk point blasters at me.

“Where are we going?” I ask. “My execution?”

“Your trial.”

 

“You attacked your squad, correct?” Ahsoka asks. We’re in what used to be a nice office for a commander. High ceiling, nice floors, even a window behind an old table. I’m in the center, Ahsoka behind the table, the clones and Numa on the sides.

“Yes.” I say. 

“I see. Tensraka, how do you plead?”

“Not guilty.” The clones begin shouting at me, and I shout back, “By reason of insanity!” they quiet down. “I would never attack my own troops!”

“But you did!” Ahsoka shouts.

“Not of my own choice!” I say loudly.

“You raised your lightsaber, correct?”

“Yes, but--”

“And you did so willingly?” she asks.

“Uh… yes and no.” I say.

“How does that work?”

“Mind control.” I tell her.

“Really? And tell us, who was controlling you?” Rex asks. He’s at Ahsoka’s side, arms crossed.

“An Imperial scientist.” I say.

“Uh-huh. And how would he control you?”

“General, can I ask someone to explain it?” she nods. “Kix. I call Kix.” I hear him walk over.

“General, Captain.” He says.

“Why are you here, Kix?” Ahsoka asks.

“I treated Tensraka when she was still part of Jet Squad, after they returned from their imprisonment in an Imperial base. The blood tests began showing a high level of steroids and foreign chemicals. Further research showed that they could tamper with the brain, making the subject more controllable, more powerful, less rational, and highly aggressive. A level of adrenaline and stress would activate it, though I don’t know what level are required.” He says. “She was on a sedative to control these aspects, but the sedative must have worn off before she attacked them.”

“Do you have proof?” Ahsoka asks.

“Yes. It’s all on my datapad.” Kix pulls it out and messes with it, then hands it to Ahsoka. She nods and puts it down.

“You did not choose to attack?” she asks. I shake my head. “How does that work?”

“It was like my brain shut off, and my body wasn’t in control. I wanted to attack, yes, the more aggressive side of me wanted to. The rational side was quiet, like it was drugged, and the side that wanted to fight was in charge. I was in so much conflict, I didn’t want to attack, but I wanted to at the same time…” _I’m digging myself my own grave._ I think. “I did not want to attack, though. I, as in myself, not the person the drugs created.” I look up at Ahsoka. She frowns.

“We’ll decide your fate. Take her back to her cell.” I’m harshly led away.

 

When the remnants of my squad take me back out of my cell, they don’t say a word. We go up into a hangar, where the others are.

“We’ve come to a compromise.” Ahsoka says. “Half the clones want you dead in a painful way, the other half just want it to be quick.” She pauses. “Then there’s Numa, who wants you to live.” She folds her arms. “So, you’ll choose someone to fight. If you win, we’ll let you go. If you don’t, the person you fight can choose your death.” she tells me. They form a circle around me. I hold still, trying to choose one.

“Hurry up or we’ll pick one for you.” Rex snarls. Numa’s not there. _Who has a good chance of not killing me?_ _Who can I beat?_

I lift my arm and point. Ahsoka nods and I remove my finger from her forehead.

 


	39. Chapter 39

I stand in front of Ahsoka as she hands her shoto to Rex.

“So I’m going into this, unarmed, with my hands cuffed in front of me?” I ask. She says nothing but Rex nods. “Wouldn’t it be more entertaining if I had a weapon? Just a pistol?” Rex glares at me and takes out one of his pistols. He holds it out to me, and then drops it on the ground. Ahsoka activates her lightsaber, swinging into reverse grip. The others back away.

Ahsoka looks at me, and charges. She swings her lightsaber and I dodge it, arms bent in defense. She swings again and I step back, bringing my wrists up to meet her blade. It touches the cuff’s link, and it breaks, the cuffs falling off. My arms free, I jump back and hit the ground in a crouch, hands on the ground. I smirk and lunge for the pistol. I dodge her lightsaber and grab the gun, switch it to the strongest blasts possible and begin shooting. Blue bolts fly out in a wild spray, my finger continuously pulling the trigger. I dodge her lightsaber again as she tries to get me, and then I duck under the blade and hit her in the stomach. She spins and slams me into the wall, lightsaber at my neck.

“Gonna kill me, General?” I ask. I have to play my card. I’m relying on her not to kill me. “I don’t think you could. You may hate me, I may no longer be your friend, but I doubt you could kill me. It’s against your nature.” I hiss. She glares at me, but her hand shakes. “We were friends. We fought together, served together, nearly died together. I told you I’d stay with you. we hid, fought the Empire and stayed alive as a team. After nearly ten years, I doubt you have a cold enough heart to kill me.” I tell her. 

She hesitates, and then pulls away, lightsaber going to her side. _Shut her down_ I think. She’s dropped her guard. She’s underestimated me. She may be unwilling to truly hurt me, but I’m just the shell of the woman I used to be.

 I grab her headtail. Her eyes go wide and she drops her lightsaber. I hear weapons cocking and I smirk.

“Shoot me and I’ll crush her lekku.” I shout. She slowly goes down on her knees, her eyes wide with fear. I feel only manic glee. I can hurt her. I can make her scream. Adrenaline and that same drug-induced power that caused me to attack my squad runs through me, into a mix that’s shutting down my higher brain functions and is about to cause the deaths of the people I loved. I sound eerily calm as I speak, and I can't control the words either. They just slide out.

“That’s the thing, General. While you can’t hurt me, while you still hold onto that loyalty, I’ve abandoned it. I’ve had to abandon it. I have no qualms about hurting you.” _Liar._ A voice whispers. It’s right. Deep inside, where sanity remains, it’s right. But she believes it. My body believes it. I let go of her headtail and grab her lightsaber. I raise my pistol, switching it to a low-level stun.

“You’re right, General.” I say. “I win.” I pull the trigger and she falls. I look around at the others. “Back away, boys.” I order. They raise their weapons. I point the blaster at Ahsoka again, switching it. “Pistol’s not on stun anymore. Do yourself a favor. Step aside.” I order loudly. They hesitantly do so, and I walk out of the hangar in to heavy rain.

 

I break into a run, the stolen lightsaber going onto my belt, the stolen pistol in hand. I slide through the forest, heading back to the cliff. The transmitter. They’ll be coming for me. Already I hear faint shouts, and I begin scaling the steep cliff stairs. A blaster shot breaks the side and I fall, hitting my elbow hard. I don’t look back and keep climbing.

I reach the top and run for the rock. I land in the mud as a shot explodes behind me, and I crawl toward the rock. I begin digging quickly in the mud, the rain blurring everything. I pull out the box and duck as a bolt hits the rock, opening up the box quickly and pulling out the comlink.

“Vren, come in! Kiera, where are you? Ash, come in!” I shout. I can hear them coming, and the whirr of the ship. “I need you here fast! Get over here now!” I can see the ship come out of the forest, fly toward me, and then shoot off high above me.

“What are you doing? Get back here!” I shout. The ship begins climbing and a pit opens u in my stomach. _They’ve left me…_

“You traitors! Kiera, you little backstabbing Sith! Get back here! I trusted you! Ash! ASH! How could you? You traitorous, backstabbing, no-good sleemos! Burn in hell! Burn!” I scream, baring my teeth, cursing into the comlink. _You shouldn’t have trusted them._ The voice says. The lightsaber flies off my belt and into Tano’s hand. The pistol is taken, the transmitter smashed, and my hands cuffed behind my back. I don’t care. They left me. They abandoned me.

 


	40. Chapter 40

I sit facing the wall in a corner. _They’re gone._ the door opens.

“Here.” Something hits my back. I turn slightly and take it. Ration bar. I toss it back over my shoulder. “Fine. Be that way.” the door closes. _They left me._ I close my eyes. _I’m all alone._ _Fitting. I grew up alone. I fought alone. I nearly died on a table alone. And I’ll rot down here alone._

 

Hours, days, weeks, months, years may have passed. I don’t know. It’s all a blur. My new crew, my new… ‘Friends’… have left. I’m all alone. I have no one anymore. I’ll rot in this hole.

 

The door opens once a day, and a ration bar flies in. I just take them, though I’m not hungry. I don’t know how to cry. If I did, I would. But from years of death and focus, to months of confusion and darkness, in my own sanity-drained mind, I can't remember how to cry. It’s a memory I’ve left behind in the dust of my trail.

 

The door opens, but nothing flies in. instead I head footsteps.

“Have you finally gotten my execution ready?” my voice creaks and breaks. I haven’t said a word in so long. No answer. I wait for the rough hands to drag me to my feet, but none come. Instead the cuffs are unlocked by a red hand. I look up at Ash. As soon as they drop I grab her by her throat and slam her into the wall.

“What are you playing at, traitoress?” I snarl. She shakes her head.

“No… I didn’t… want to…” she squeaks.

“Liar.” I growl, tightening my hold.

“I never wanted to leave you! Please…” she begins crying. “Kiera said…. it was too… dangerous. You… jumping onto the ship, that’s…. one thing. But a Jedi and… a bunch of armed men... that’s… another…” she chokes, her eyes rolling up in her head. “Please. We immediately… would come back…” I glare.

“Why should I trust a thing you say?” I ask. She touches my face.

“I am… loyal… to you…” she says. “I… wouldn’t… leave forever…” she looks into my eyes. “None of us… would…”

 _Don’t trust her. You hold her life in your hands. End it._ Something says. _No! Don’t start running again! Don’t listen!_ I let her go. She falls to the ground gasping, then picks herself up and hugs me tightly.

“Let’s go. We have to move.” She says, helping me to my feet. I stretch, my legs and back are stiff and making weird noises.

We walk out of the cell and begin running through the halls.

“I overheard them talking about execution. They’re probably on their--” I hear voices and yank her into a dark hall. “--Way.” She finishes. 

Three clones walk by, muttering to themselves. Ash silently pulls me out and along the hall they just came from. We run towards an elevator and board it quickly, flying up onto the surface level. We slide along the halls quickly, until we hit the outside.

“There are a good twenty meters between here and the wall.” Ash whispers. “Are you up for it?”

“It’s irrelevant whether I am or not.  We need to get out now.” I reply. She nods.

“On three. One, two…” I turn and Ahsoka turns the corner.

“Three!” I shout, and pull her behind me out of the fort. We practically fly toward the wall and shots fly over our heads. Ash begins scaling the wall and I jump up onto the top, pulling her quickly up after me. I turn as she gets ready to jump off.

“My blades!” I say.

“No time!” She replies, and then I see something on Ahsoka’s belt.

“There they are.” I mutter, and Force pull my lightsabers off her belt and into my hands. Ahsoka watches them fly and looks shocked as I catch them, glaring. Ash jumps off and I look at them. I salute and jump off as well.

We run across the dark ground as quietly as we can.

“Split!” I shout, and push her to the side. A second later a bolt hits where we would have been. “They’ll be frenzy-firing, we have to get to the forest!” I scream over the thunder. She doesn’t react, but leans over as we hit the forest.

We charge along the trail, Ash leading me toward a lake. The ship is there, the door open. She grabs my arm and pulls me inside. The door shuts and the ship immediately lifts off.

I collapse against the wall, breathing hard. Ash leans against it and sighs.

“Punch it when we’re out, Vren.” She calls. “It’s gonna be so cramped.” She mutters.

“More than usual?” I ask. “Someone joined up, didn’t they?” she nods.

“You’re alive?” I turn quickly and look at the white leg plates of Phase I armor. My eyes travel up until I meet the brown ones of a clone with short black hair.

“Jas.” I mutter, and then look at Lemon. “Why is he here?” I ask.

“He broke me out. When I told him about you, he decided to give it another shot.”

“I trust his judgment. I’ll see if I can trust you.” Jas says. I nod.

“And I hope I can earn it.” I say quietly.

“Headed for hyperspace.” Kiera shouts from the cockpit. I hear the hyperdrive power up and the others fall backward. Ash lands on me and crawls off slowly, standing and then walking away.

 

We shoot out of hyperspace over a brown, glowing planet. I stand behind Vren as he pulls down into the atmosphere.

“Where…” I ask. He hands me the datapad.

 _Nar Shaddaa_ it says.

“I don’t know the planet.” I tell him.

“Smuggler hole. Full of crime and filth.” I turn to where Kiera walks in. “Best example I can give is a bucket you dragged through a mud hole. And what you get when you pick the bucket up? That’s what you get down there. Big city, like Coruscant. Except here, no one cares. Sure, there’s the wanted posters, but you keep your head down, I doubt you’ll have a problem.” I frown.

“Last time someone told me that, I wound up in an arena for three days being attacked by monsters.” I hear footsteps that stop abruptly by the door. “You can come in, Ash.” I say loudly. She comes in slowly after opening the door, her head low.

“I honestly thought it would work.” She mutters.

“Yeah, well, it didn’t. I’m just saying, everyone seems to recognize me.”

“Well, we’ve got Anya. That oughta count for something.” Lemon walks in and folds his arms.

“Pull down, Vren. I guess we’re hiding here.” I tell him. He nods and angles the ship down toward a landing pad.

 

I pull the hood of my new cloak up over my head and wait for the others. Anya is on her harness, the handle of her lead gripped tightly in my hand. Kiera walks over, hood up as well, while Ash simply stands beside me baring her cleavage again. Lemon and Vren finally come over, Lemon with a pack full of supplies and the few credits we have.

“Ready?” I ask. They all nod, and we walk out into the city.

 

What a sight we must be. A Twi’lek, a nexu, and--as far as anyone can tell--four Humans and something in armor. My eyes do not stop roving the strange city until we find a small hotel. I stalk in behind Kiera, who looks completely at home.

“Hey, handsome. Got any rooms?” she asks with a purr. The bored-looking Human behind the counter nods, then glances at Anya.

“What is that?” he asks.

“Nexu.” Kiera says. “She doesn’t bite or anything. That won't be a problem, will it?” her tone gets lower, and seems to carry a threat.

“No, ma’am! But if it does any damage…”

“We understand. A large room? We only need one.” Kiera asks. He nods and hands her a key. She smiles at him, then beckons to us to follow and walks up the stairs. We do so, and walk into our room.

 

Stinks like something died a bloody, shit-filled death in here. I’m fairly sure I see faint outlines of both blood and dung on the walls. I look down at the floor, sure that there are bugs; even on the wood they’ll be hiding somewhere.

“Good view.” Ash remarks, leaning on the sill. I punch Lemon in the arm before he can mention just how good a view it is, and then bend down to unhook Anya from the chain. I scratch Anya’s head. 

The poor girl’s been stuck in a small room for the past four days, and can barely run around even now that she’s off the ship. I’m amazed at how good she was at not running after leaves, people or bright lights.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to move around more now.” I tell her. She chirps and begins running in circles around me.

“Strange pet you got there.” Lemon’s taken his helmet off, and I involuntarily wince at the wide red dip in his face the woman’s knife left. His eye is now a dull grey, without a pupil or iris. He sighs and turns away.

“Sorry. I’m still getting used to it.”

“It’s fine.” He says, and I can hear pain in his voice. I walk over to Ash and slap her shoulder. She looks up at me, frowns and then stands up, walking away.

“I call this corner!” Ash says, sitting down in the corner by the door. Vren walks over to the wall opposite, sitting down and pulling back his hood, and looking the most content I’ve ever seen him, even though he always has his hood up and his face barely changes.

“Mine.” Kiera lies down next to Ash’s feet against the wall. I smirk and sit down by the window, and Lemon lies down next to the actual bed. Jas silently lies down across from the bed.

“I find it amusing that we’re all avoiding the bed.” Kiera says, as Anya runs and jumps onto the mattress, leaving deep gouges. She lays down on it and grins, panting.

“Well, Anya obviously always gets the best.” I say, and Lemon begins laughing, face screwed up. It’s not that funny, and yet Ash begins giggling, and Kiera lets out a loud laugh that sounds like a bark. Jas chuckles a little, and Vren and I just stare at each other as the others let out a flood of pent-up nerves. Lemon begins gasping for air and rolls onto his side, grinning at me. It’s been so long since I’ve actually heard him give something other that a snort or a sarcastic laugh.

 


	41. Chapter 41

I wander into another store, this time getting a pair of baggy pants with a lot of large pockets I can hide my lightsabers in. they’re dark grey camo, with bits of yellow-green in them as well.

As I walk back, I stop by a wall of wanted posters, most of them graffiti over. One, though, is not, hanging on the edge of the wall. It’s of a young man; dark brown eyes stare back at me. The name underneath, in faded Aurebesh, is ‘Galen Marek.’ Some Imperial deserter. There’s a fairly large reward for him, too. I see posters for me as well, and for Ash. There’s a few others, random criminals, but nothing too interesting.

“Good morning, minions.” I say as I walk in. I step on Lemon’s arm as he’s flopped in the middle of the floor like Anya does, and he shouts and pulls it back underneath himself protectively.

“Where’d you go?” Kiera asks.

“Shopping. Found something to hide weapons in.” I tell her, and walk into the refresher to change.

When I walk back out, Ash has come in with a datapad, and looking worried.

“What is it?” Kiera asks.

“There are troops outside, lots of them. I’m worried they’ve found us.” She says. I walk over to the window and look out. There are a lot of stormtroopers around, but then I see a flash of orange, white and blue that worries me more.

A Togruta stands across the road by a bar. She looks up at me for a fraction of a second and I lean back, then she turns and keeps walking, a helmeted figure by her side.

“Ahsoka’s here.” I whisper, and Lemon comes over.

“Are you sure? It could be any number of Togruta…”

“She’s missing a montral, and has the same markings and clothes Ahsoka wears.” I look at Lemon. “There was someone with her. It looked like Rex’s armor.” I say. “It was them. What should we do?”

“Lay low? I don’t want to keep running all the time.” Ash says.

“You said you’d stay with me.” I straighten up and turn to her. “You said you wouldn’t leave when I warned you.”

“I just want to be on a planet for a while. A day is all I ask. Tomorrow we can keep moving if we have to.” She says.

“All right. But we’re not just sitting around. We have to get ready to keep running. Got it?” I ask. They all nod. “Vren, if it’s okay with you, we need a new ship.” he looks shocked. “It’s an amazing ship, I know, but we’ve got six people and a nexu sleeping in two rooms built for two or three people. We can find a larger model, right?” I ask. He nods hesitantly. “We can go out today and find one that you like. We can probably steal some money fairly easily.” I lower my voice at this. They all nod.

“I can take Kiera out thieving.” Ash whispers. Kiera nods.

“Good. Lemon, you take Jas and Anya and pick up more med supplies and food, along with winter gear. Who knows where we’ll be headed.” He nods.

“Vren, you and I will go down and find a ship. Got it?” I ask. Vren grins and nods vigorously.

We split up and leave the room.

 

I walk over to a landing pad where a Zabrak is selling ships.

“Yeah, I’ve got everything. C’mere, I’ll show you a yacht that I just got in.” he says.

“Actually, we’re looking for something very specific.” He turns and looks at me. “We need something that’ll hold six people, potentially more, and room enough for a medium-sized animal to run around in. Ideally with a hold. And it has to have weapons. Got anything?” I ask. He scratches his head.

“I think I may have something like what you’re looking for. Come with me.” he leads us over to a large dark grey ship. “Have a look around, if you like.” He says and lowers the ramp. We walk into the dark ship and Vren turns on the lights. I walk through the narrow hall into a good-sized hold. We could probably launch ships out the back if needed, and if we had any. We can store a good amount here too. I walk back and find two rooms, both could fit five people. There’s a galley, and a small closet we could stick weapons in. There’s also storage under the floor. The cockpit looks all right, I don’t know what most of it does, but Vren seems happy with it.

“Looking good?” I ask he nods. “Think you might want to get it?” he nods again. “And you’re all right with giving up the other one?” he hands me the datapad.

 _It was my home for many years, but I’m glad to be rid of it. It holds bad memories for me, and was too small for us. This one will become my home now._ I look at him and smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay with it.” I tell him. He shrugs and takes the datapad back, quickly sliding his hand back into the folds of his robes. His hood’s up again, his face in shadow.

We walk back out as the Zabrak comes back.

“Well?” he asks.

“We’ll buy it. How much?” I ask.

“Well, it’s a fast ship, fairly new… I’ll take 5,000 for it.”

“I’ll give you 1,000. It’s old and rusting.” I tell him.

“4,000.” He folds his arms.

“2,000.” I stand up straighter, rolling my shoulders back.

“3,500.”

“Deal.” I tell him. “We’ll be back with the money in two hours.” He nods and we leave.

 

Kiera is quite good at pick pocketing. She’s come back with almost enough, and selling the old ship gets us the rest.

“The ship’s yours.” The Zabrak says and hands me the controls for it. As he leaves I hand them to Vren.

We pack the ship on another landing pad and load it with the supplies. Lemon did amazingly well on finding cheap food, water and some snow gear. Anya loves it and won’t stop running around in circles.

“Tonight I think we can have fun.” I say. Lemon whoops and Ash grins.

 

 


	42. Chapter 42

We walk into a large bar after dark, and immediately my ears are attacked by loud music. I grab a bottle of something and sit at a table in the corner and watch as Lemon sits at the bar and is immediately surrounded by men and women. I smirk and turn back to my bottle as Jas sits on the other end of the bar. Ash sits down next to me with a cup of foul-smelling alcohol and takes a sip. I play with the bottle, tuning out everything until Ash hits me.

“What?” I ask.

“I said, are you doing all right?” she asks. I narrow my eyes.

“Well, seeing as I’ve somehow ended up dragging four people and a nexu along after me as I run from both the Rebels, the Empire and my former crew, I’m doing excellently.” I tell her harshly, and she flinches.

“Sorry. I just wanted to say something. Kiera’s somewhere else and Vren’s with her, so I felt a little uncomfortable by myself. These people are giving me strange looks.” She says, seeming to turn a darker red. I look around and people quickly avert their eyes from us.

“You’re a Twi’lek.” I say. She nods.

“Yeah… it’s pretty annoying, having men staring after me.”

“From what I see, it’s not just men.” She looks over at a Zabrak woman. We lapse into silence, glancing over at Lemon from time to time, and eventually Kiera and Vren come back.

“Did some asking around, and apparently there’s a planet we could hide out in if we had to leave fast, where pretty much no one would care who we were.”

“What’s it called?” I ask.

“Bespin.” She says. “Just a backup. I don’t think we need to leave for a while.” I glance back over at Lemon. There’s a Human girl there, talking with him.

“Looks like he found a friend.” I say, nodding towards Lemon. Kiera smirks.

“Maybe we can add a new crewmember to the list?” she asks.

“Doubtful.” I reply, and stand. “I’m seeing a few people that look familiar. I think we should move soon.” I say. Kiera nods.

“Probably a good idea.” She turns back to her glass as I walk over to Lemon. I punch his right shoulder. My logic is that if she hasn’t seen his other eye, she’ll want to know what she’s getting into. That and I don’t trust her. He turns and looks at me, glaring.

“What?” he shouts over the music. I hear a small gasp from the girl.

“We’re headed out in five. You coming?” he frowns.

“I’ll see.”

“If you’re not, head back to the room.” I order, and leave, letting them continue what I think is a doomed conversation.

 

Five minutes later and he hasn’t moved, so we leave him. In the next bar it’s relatively quiet, and we hang out in an alcove table.

“They’re staring again.” Ash mutters. I glance over at men eyeing Ash, and frown.

“Here. Play along.” I order quietly, and pull her onto my lap, putting an arm around her despite her quiet gasp. I stare the men down and they quickly turn away, going back to their drinks. I doubt they’d want to mess with her now.

Ash hums softly as she drinks some more. She’s warm and I can smell a kind of musty flowery scent on her. Jas looks a bit shocked, but Kiera just smirks into the bottom of her cup. I raise an eyebrow. She ignores me and messes with a datapad.

 

As we walk back through the dark city, I feel like someone’s watching me. I look over my shoulder and I’m sure I saw someone disappear into an alley.

“Move faster. I think they’re here.” I say quietly.

“Don’t worry. You’re not alone this time.” Ash mutters.

“Lemon was with me.” I remind her, pulling my hood farther up.

“Yeah, you were alone.” Jas mutters. I snort.

“Let’s just keep moving. If your friend’s here, we’re in trouble.” Kiera says.

“Lemon’s back there.” Jas says.

“He’s made his choice. He’ll be back. We need to lose our tail, though.” I say, pulling Anya’s chain closer to me. She looks back at the shadows and growls.

“Should we split?” I ask.

“Yeah. I’ll go with you.” Kiera says. “Vren, take Ash and Jas. We’ll go in opposite directions and circle back around to the hotel. Got it?”

“Got it. Weapons at the ready.” I say. They all nod and we split. I begin moving faster, pulling Anya along behind me, and Kiera walks briskly beside me. We move along multiple alleys and streets, sliding through the crowd. Kiera glances over her shoulder a few times,

“Keep moving. A few more turns and I think we’re good.” She says. We turn a corner and then begin running, dodging people and walls, twisting and turning through the city. When we’re suitably lost and our tail probably is as well, we stop, find a map, and begin working our way back to the hotel.

 


	43. Chapter 43

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Ash says, hugging me tightly. I stagger a bit and nod.

“Of course we are. Didn’t even have to take out our lightsabers.” I say. She lets go and smiles at me, then goes over to where she’s sleeping. Vren barely responds to us, his face in a datapad. Jas unhooks Anya and hands her some food, but then drops it on the floor after thinking. Anya grabs it so quickly that I’m fairly sure Jas would have lost a hand.

“So do we just sleep?” I ask. Kiera nods.

“Probably the best idea. I’ll lock up.”

“What if Lemon comes back?” Ash asks.

“Then he’ll sleep outside the door.” I say. “We’re not taking the risk that he may or may not come back tonight. Besides, we’d probably attack him if the door opened.” Ash nods.

“Probably.”

“He’ll be fine.” Jas says. She nods again and lies down.

 

I stand in the room. It’s dark and silent. There are dark shapes on the floor. I walk over to one, crouching down. It’s my crew. 

I shake Ash, and then scream as her head flops off her body. I turn and see Kiera with a stab wound from a lightsaber. Vren is chopped to pieces, Jas is stabbed, Anya… she’s been stabbed so many times. The door opens.

“What… Miirraa, no! You didn’t!” I turn to face Lemon, opening my mouth to defend myself, but he pulls out his pistol. “I trusted you!” he screams.

The world shifts and he’s gone, replaced by the Imperial.

“Sooner or later, you will attack them. As soon as your life seems to be rebuilt, I will knock it down again. You belong to me, darling. You’ll never be free.” He steps toward me, the same hungry, cruel smile he had in life. His cold grey eyes never leave mine as he reaches out his hand to grab me. I step backwards, grabbing my lightsabers, activating them and swinging.

He laughs as the blades hit him and he dissolves into ash, as the whole room dissolves into ash, as I fall into darkness.

I sit up, gasping, sweat pouring down my face, sticking to every inch of my body. My armor’s too hot.

I pull it off, carelessly leaving the pieces in front of me. I let the cool air soak into my body for a while, then sit up and look out the window. The traffic is slower and quieter, the neon lights from the signs giving everything an odd glow. I just sit and watch for a while, until I’m tired again. I lie back down, praying for no dreams.

 

I slowly wake up to someone shaking me. Ash’s face comes into view, and I frown.

“Up.” She says. I comply.

 

The door opens a while later and Lemon stumbles in, a weird grin on his face.

“Where were you?” I ask. He collapses next to the door.

“I met the most beautiful girl…” he says.

“Oh, boy.” Ash says and goes into the refresher.

“I’m serious! She wants to see me again.” he tells us.

“Interesting. I told you, we could probably plan on another crew member.” Kiera says.

“Ha. She’ll begin running when she meets him sober.” Jas says. Lemon just glares at his brother.

 

Around noon we finally leave the room. Ash, Vren and I go to where our new ship is to load up and move it. When we get there the guy just points the way, not talking or anything. We climb onboard and lift off, heading for a landing pad nearby.

We clear all our stuff out of the old ship, along with the Sith’s belongings. Then we haul our supplies onboard, dumping it all in the hold.

“We’re ready to leave if we need to.” Ash says.

 

We didn’t leave. It’s been almost a month, and I’ve only seen Tano once, in the shadows underneath a bridge. She didn’t notice me. For now we hide, and soon we’ll keep running. But at least we can stay in one place for a while.

 

END


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